смп
10-19-2009, 10:32 PM
Friends, family members, and co-workers are coming up to me all the time with issues with their PC's, saying they're slow, and full of errors. People then like to point the finger at their PC referring to their Dell or Gateway or whatever brand of PC they have as a piece of crap. After listening to the complaints they give, and taking a scan through their computer 9 times out of 10 it all boils down to one thing. They haven't taken the proper steps to keep their PC free of Viruses, spyware, and upkeep on the general maintenance of their PC.
So in this thread, I will go over the essential things you need to keep your PC running smooth for years to come.
Antivirus
Antivirus is important for obvious reasons, to scan your computer and eliminate viruses you may have picked up unknowingly. The thing about Anti-virus is this, everyone has it, but most people aren't using it as they should. There are a few key things to keep your anti-virus working the way it should.
-Keep it running the whole time you're using your PC, most have active protecting functions to work on preventing viruses even when you aren't scanning.
-Set a scanning schedule and when you do make sure you set it to a time your computer will be on, and you will not be using it. Most people make 2 common mistakes. First is setting it for a time that their PC isn't on, so it never scans or starts scanning when they go to use it, so they turn it off because it is slowing down their PC. Second, scan often, i have mine set to scan once a day every day at 2AM. However 2-3 times a week is fine.
-UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE if you do not update regularly, you may as well not be using it at all. Databases that they programs use are updated constantly with new threats being found, if you do not update you are vulnerable to all of these new threats.
-Scan once a month offline there are lots of viruses and bots out there that when removed by antivirus will re-download themselves to another part of your system. Scanning offline makes it impossible for them to do so, i personally like to do 2 scans offline, the first scan then reset my PC and do the second one before re-connecting to the internet.
Antivirus Programs recommended:
AVG (has a freeware option as well as pay option availible)
Norton Antivirus
McAfee
ZoneAlarm
and many others people can feel free to link.
Firewall
You may have heard this term many times before and not know what the hell it means or is. A Firewall program in its most basic form is a program that monitors and controls any information sent in and out of your PC. The firewall will monitor programs and other activities to prevent attacks on your PC as well as programs trying to go out and download potential Spyware, Malware, and viruses without your permission.
There are a few flaws with firewalls and the average every day user. The main flaw being that some firewall programs are so intrusive that people just keep hitting allow to every message the firewall gives. When you do this, you're basically rendering your firewall useless, as you're giving the green light to everything going in and out of your PC.
When you first install your firewall, it's going to ask you to allow or deny quite a few different programs most likely, it is very important after first installing a firewall to closely pay attention to what it is asking you to allow or deny going through this process attentively will minimize negative impacts of say your games being blocked by your firewall mistakenly as well as block any potential threats. In most Firewalls now a days, once you get past that initial set-up and have paid attention to it, you will get bothered very little.
This program should be on 24/7 on your PC to best protect you. As with Anti-virus UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Firewall Programs:
AVG offers in their suite now
Norton
McAfee
ZoneAlarm (my personal favorite)
Once again users feel free to post more.
Anti-Spyware/Malware:
Most people have Antivirus and a Firewall loaded onto their PC from the factory now a days, and often a suite combining anti-spyware as well. However that is not always the case, a good Anti-Spyware program is ESSENTIAL now a days. When people hear Spyware, the first thing that tends to come to mind is Pop-ups. However that is a common misconception, because as the name implies spyware is actually a program that reports or seeks information off of your PC. Websites can drop these into your computer without you having the slightest clue.
Things like Keyloggers, trackers to see what you browse, and collect over all data on your PC and internet usage data. It's good to run an Anti-spyware once a week, and like Anti-Virus it doesn't hurt to run it while offline.
Anti-Spyware/Malware programs
Ad-Aware (free)
Spybot Search and Destroy (Free)
and many others, and like the Anti-virus UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE seeing a trend here?
De fragmenting your hard drive
Another VERY overlooked process, but with the ability to set schedules for your PC to do it automatically, it's now as easy to remember/do as scanning for viruses. All Defragmenting does is organize your hard drive to move information to a more logical position on the hard drive. As your computer goes along saving things to your hard drive, it may seem like the optimal position at the time, but further down the road it can go back, look at the information on the drive, and organize it better. There is a more techinical definition and the one i gave is very vague but is a basic understanding of what it is doing.
DeFragmenting will speed up your browsing through files, and if it hasn't been done in a while your whole PC. The thing to remember about defragging as well is the more often you do it, the quicker the process is. Most people complain that it takes too long, However if you do it as often as once a month, it's a very quick process in comparison.
Once a month is a good frequency to do it and you can read how to do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYXKydo4quY bit wordy, but believe it or not he has the least annoying voice out of all of them. You can ignore the thing about safe mode, just run it when you don't need to use your PC.
That is about all i can think of for now. One thing i forgot to mention that i want to explain a bit more is when i say scan offline, i mean disconnect your computer from the internet completely, the easiest way to do this is unplug the Ethernet cord from your PC, or if you have a wireless network card, just disable it. You can also run the scans in safe mode. Either way works.
Everyone feel free to add anything i've missed and i will add it direct into this post, or into the place holder below.
So in this thread, I will go over the essential things you need to keep your PC running smooth for years to come.
Antivirus
Antivirus is important for obvious reasons, to scan your computer and eliminate viruses you may have picked up unknowingly. The thing about Anti-virus is this, everyone has it, but most people aren't using it as they should. There are a few key things to keep your anti-virus working the way it should.
-Keep it running the whole time you're using your PC, most have active protecting functions to work on preventing viruses even when you aren't scanning.
-Set a scanning schedule and when you do make sure you set it to a time your computer will be on, and you will not be using it. Most people make 2 common mistakes. First is setting it for a time that their PC isn't on, so it never scans or starts scanning when they go to use it, so they turn it off because it is slowing down their PC. Second, scan often, i have mine set to scan once a day every day at 2AM. However 2-3 times a week is fine.
-UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE if you do not update regularly, you may as well not be using it at all. Databases that they programs use are updated constantly with new threats being found, if you do not update you are vulnerable to all of these new threats.
-Scan once a month offline there are lots of viruses and bots out there that when removed by antivirus will re-download themselves to another part of your system. Scanning offline makes it impossible for them to do so, i personally like to do 2 scans offline, the first scan then reset my PC and do the second one before re-connecting to the internet.
Antivirus Programs recommended:
AVG (has a freeware option as well as pay option availible)
Norton Antivirus
McAfee
ZoneAlarm
and many others people can feel free to link.
Firewall
You may have heard this term many times before and not know what the hell it means or is. A Firewall program in its most basic form is a program that monitors and controls any information sent in and out of your PC. The firewall will monitor programs and other activities to prevent attacks on your PC as well as programs trying to go out and download potential Spyware, Malware, and viruses without your permission.
There are a few flaws with firewalls and the average every day user. The main flaw being that some firewall programs are so intrusive that people just keep hitting allow to every message the firewall gives. When you do this, you're basically rendering your firewall useless, as you're giving the green light to everything going in and out of your PC.
When you first install your firewall, it's going to ask you to allow or deny quite a few different programs most likely, it is very important after first installing a firewall to closely pay attention to what it is asking you to allow or deny going through this process attentively will minimize negative impacts of say your games being blocked by your firewall mistakenly as well as block any potential threats. In most Firewalls now a days, once you get past that initial set-up and have paid attention to it, you will get bothered very little.
This program should be on 24/7 on your PC to best protect you. As with Anti-virus UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Firewall Programs:
AVG offers in their suite now
Norton
McAfee
ZoneAlarm (my personal favorite)
Once again users feel free to post more.
Anti-Spyware/Malware:
Most people have Antivirus and a Firewall loaded onto their PC from the factory now a days, and often a suite combining anti-spyware as well. However that is not always the case, a good Anti-Spyware program is ESSENTIAL now a days. When people hear Spyware, the first thing that tends to come to mind is Pop-ups. However that is a common misconception, because as the name implies spyware is actually a program that reports or seeks information off of your PC. Websites can drop these into your computer without you having the slightest clue.
Things like Keyloggers, trackers to see what you browse, and collect over all data on your PC and internet usage data. It's good to run an Anti-spyware once a week, and like Anti-Virus it doesn't hurt to run it while offline.
Anti-Spyware/Malware programs
Ad-Aware (free)
Spybot Search and Destroy (Free)
and many others, and like the Anti-virus UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE seeing a trend here?
De fragmenting your hard drive
Another VERY overlooked process, but with the ability to set schedules for your PC to do it automatically, it's now as easy to remember/do as scanning for viruses. All Defragmenting does is organize your hard drive to move information to a more logical position on the hard drive. As your computer goes along saving things to your hard drive, it may seem like the optimal position at the time, but further down the road it can go back, look at the information on the drive, and organize it better. There is a more techinical definition and the one i gave is very vague but is a basic understanding of what it is doing.
DeFragmenting will speed up your browsing through files, and if it hasn't been done in a while your whole PC. The thing to remember about defragging as well is the more often you do it, the quicker the process is. Most people complain that it takes too long, However if you do it as often as once a month, it's a very quick process in comparison.
Once a month is a good frequency to do it and you can read how to do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYXKydo4quY bit wordy, but believe it or not he has the least annoying voice out of all of them. You can ignore the thing about safe mode, just run it when you don't need to use your PC.
That is about all i can think of for now. One thing i forgot to mention that i want to explain a bit more is when i say scan offline, i mean disconnect your computer from the internet completely, the easiest way to do this is unplug the Ethernet cord from your PC, or if you have a wireless network card, just disable it. You can also run the scans in safe mode. Either way works.
Everyone feel free to add anything i've missed and i will add it direct into this post, or into the place holder below.