Computer schedule to stick to
I'm often asked how often should i do this ? or when should i do that ? , so here's a list of the Computer tasks i recommend people carry out on their computers in order to keep them as safe to use as possible and in as good a working order as possible.
DAILY
1. Do a quick scan of your PC with Prevx antispyware programme this only takes a minute or so if no other scanners are running at the same time. If you run it while another antispyware scanner is scanning it'll take a lot longer to do its own scan, eg it took 12minutes to scan 20,000 files while i was running Malwarebytes antispyware at the same time so don't do this !
2. Scan your PC with Windows free antispyware product called Windows defender, you only have to set this up once to schedule a daily scan to detect and quarantine any Spyware
3.
4. Use Ccleaner to remove cookies, tracking cookies, cache, history and junk files and to remove registry errors this will take about 1 or 2 minutes to do.
5. Burn the data you want to keep to dvd's so you have a proper backup of data you want eg
photos, your camcorder videos, letters etc. Why ? because hard drives fail !
6. Empty your recycle bin so your PC gets back the space the files you delete were taking up.
7. Make sure your Antivirus is up to date, most release updates to catch the latest viruses every day.
8. Synchronise your bookmarks using the xmarks FireFox addon and Itunes if you use an IPhone. Xmarks does this automatically or you can sync your bookmarks as often as you want or need to.
WEEKLY TASKS
1. Scan your entire PC .. all hard drives with your antivirus programme, you can set it up to scan weekly at the same time. If you want you can do this daily to be extra safe.
2. Run your backup software, this can be set to do this automatically. You must have a backup plan as hard drive failures happen all too often, or a virus can destroy data. Most good external hard drives come with backup software so you can set it to copy all data on your other internal hard drives over to it, then if you get a problem all your data is saved.
3. Update Spybot search & destroy then do a full scan of your PC to find spyware
4. Record Internet radio shows you want to keep as many shows have a 1 week limit on when you can listen to them again eg bbc.co.uk/radio1
5. Update Spyware blaster
6. Scan your PC with Malwarebytes antimalware make sure you update it first
7. file away the dvds/cds/bluray disks you make with your precious data into wallets so they don't get scratched or dusty
8. Make sure your PC is making restore points regularly
DO THESE TASKS AS & WHEN YOU NEED TO
1. Update your OS ( operating system eg windows xp/vista/7 ) Microsoft issues patches every 2nd Tuesday of the month but sometimes issues a patch on other days to fix bad flaws hackers are exploiting. A taskbar icon will show up when Microsoft is downloading patches for you, you must set your PC to automatically update the OS
2.Backup your data...Ive said do this daily, some do it weekly but if a harddrive fails as mine did youll loose all data you didn't backup so if you only backup weekly you could loose up to 1 weeks worth of data..your photos, camcorder video, documents etc
3. Update the software programmes you use when told a newer version is out as often newer versions come out to fix holes in them hackers are exploiting to get viruses into your PC.
check my brilliant blog say weekly to see my useful software article as ill update it weekly roughly to say the latest versions available. I'm also going to start a PC diary article so you can read what changes i make to the software i recommend people use and when ( by date) i make the changes.
4. Send error reports to Microsoft if they ask you to or any other programmes that crash ( go wrong) this helps the software maker diagnose what went wrong and fix the software.
5. Get the latest drivers for your PC, this is more of a monthly task as drivers arnt updated that often. use something like drivermax software to do this.
6.Upload your own photos to a website like flickr.com so family/friends/followers can see them,
7. Upload videos you make with your camcorder to the internet to share them with people you know.
8. Report bad websites to Mcafee siteadvisor the must have FireFox brower addon, if you go to a website and your antivirus immediatly warns you its detected a virus on the site report it so every other Internet user is warned that website isn't safe to use.
9. Write down how much data you've downloaded weekly or monthly by looking at Dumeter if you use that software if you have a limit on how much data your allowed by your isp ( Internet service provider) eg when i used BT British telecom (the isp i left as its so slow for the price eg you got 2mb when you paid to get 8mb speed and it lost your connection a few times a day) in the uk for £25 a month you were allowed a maximum of 40gb a month of data to be sent to your home computers. With 2 or 3 people in a home using the Internet its very easy to go over this limit as every website you view is sent to you as data, it all adds up. if you view online videos like bbc iplayer or Youtube again that's a lot of data so keep an eye on how much data you downloading or uploading eg if you post videos to YouTube like i do . This way you can avoid extra fees many isps charge for going over the limit your allowed.
10. As and when they happen write down the allows you let through your firewall eg Zonealarm ( see the bottom of my article called useful software to use for what i allow)
11. Report and block spam you get on Skype the voip free Internet phone call service if you use it.
Skype has a good instant messenger and every so often some arse hole contacts you saying buy this stock or see these women who want to date you etc...just click the message and report the spamming bastards and block them.
12.Forward phishing emails you get as emails to companys you use to help protect not just yourself from scams but also every other user of the service eg auction websites, online payment services, banks. use the genuine website of services you use to find what email address to forward suspicious emails to.
DAILY
1. Do a quick scan of your PC with Prevx antispyware programme this only takes a minute or so if no other scanners are running at the same time. If you run it while another antispyware scanner is scanning it'll take a lot longer to do its own scan, eg it took 12minutes to scan 20,000 files while i was running Malwarebytes antispyware at the same time so don't do this !
2. Scan your PC with Windows free antispyware product called Windows defender, you only have to set this up once to schedule a daily scan to detect and quarantine any Spyware
3.
4. Use Ccleaner to remove cookies, tracking cookies, cache, history and junk files and to remove registry errors this will take about 1 or 2 minutes to do.
5. Burn the data you want to keep to dvd's so you have a proper backup of data you want eg
photos, your camcorder videos, letters etc. Why ? because hard drives fail !
6. Empty your recycle bin so your PC gets back the space the files you delete were taking up.
7. Make sure your Antivirus is up to date, most release updates to catch the latest viruses every day.
8. Synchronise your bookmarks using the xmarks FireFox addon and Itunes if you use an IPhone. Xmarks does this automatically or you can sync your bookmarks as often as you want or need to.
WEEKLY TASKS
1. Scan your entire PC .. all hard drives with your antivirus programme, you can set it up to scan weekly at the same time. If you want you can do this daily to be extra safe.
2. Run your backup software, this can be set to do this automatically. You must have a backup plan as hard drive failures happen all too often, or a virus can destroy data. Most good external hard drives come with backup software so you can set it to copy all data on your other internal hard drives over to it, then if you get a problem all your data is saved.
3. Update Spybot search & destroy then do a full scan of your PC to find spyware
4. Record Internet radio shows you want to keep as many shows have a 1 week limit on when you can listen to them again eg bbc.co.uk/radio1
5. Update Spyware blaster
6. Scan your PC with Malwarebytes antimalware make sure you update it first
7. file away the dvds/cds/bluray disks you make with your precious data into wallets so they don't get scratched or dusty
8. Make sure your PC is making restore points regularly
DO THESE TASKS AS & WHEN YOU NEED TO
1. Update your OS ( operating system eg windows xp/vista/7 ) Microsoft issues patches every 2nd Tuesday of the month but sometimes issues a patch on other days to fix bad flaws hackers are exploiting. A taskbar icon will show up when Microsoft is downloading patches for you, you must set your PC to automatically update the OS
2.Backup your data...Ive said do this daily, some do it weekly but if a harddrive fails as mine did youll loose all data you didn't backup so if you only backup weekly you could loose up to 1 weeks worth of data..your photos, camcorder video, documents etc
3. Update the software programmes you use when told a newer version is out as often newer versions come out to fix holes in them hackers are exploiting to get viruses into your PC.
check my brilliant blog say weekly to see my useful software article as ill update it weekly roughly to say the latest versions available. I'm also going to start a PC diary article so you can read what changes i make to the software i recommend people use and when ( by date) i make the changes.
4. Send error reports to Microsoft if they ask you to or any other programmes that crash ( go wrong) this helps the software maker diagnose what went wrong and fix the software.
5. Get the latest drivers for your PC, this is more of a monthly task as drivers arnt updated that often. use something like drivermax software to do this.
6.Upload your own photos to a website like flickr.com so family/friends/followers can see them,
7. Upload videos you make with your camcorder to the internet to share them with people you know.
8. Report bad websites to Mcafee siteadvisor the must have FireFox brower addon, if you go to a website and your antivirus immediatly warns you its detected a virus on the site report it so every other Internet user is warned that website isn't safe to use.
9. Write down how much data you've downloaded weekly or monthly by looking at Dumeter if you use that software if you have a limit on how much data your allowed by your isp ( Internet service provider) eg when i used BT British telecom (the isp i left as its so slow for the price eg you got 2mb when you paid to get 8mb speed and it lost your connection a few times a day) in the uk for £25 a month you were allowed a maximum of 40gb a month of data to be sent to your home computers. With 2 or 3 people in a home using the Internet its very easy to go over this limit as every website you view is sent to you as data, it all adds up. if you view online videos like bbc iplayer or Youtube again that's a lot of data so keep an eye on how much data you downloading or uploading eg if you post videos to YouTube like i do . This way you can avoid extra fees many isps charge for going over the limit your allowed.
10. As and when they happen write down the allows you let through your firewall eg Zonealarm ( see the bottom of my article called useful software to use for what i allow)
11. Report and block spam you get on Skype the voip free Internet phone call service if you use it.
Skype has a good instant messenger and every so often some arse hole contacts you saying buy this stock or see these women who want to date you etc...just click the message and report the spamming bastards and block them.
12.Forward phishing emails you get as emails to companys you use to help protect not just yourself from scams but also every other user of the service eg auction websites, online payment services, banks. use the genuine website of services you use to find what email address to forward suspicious emails to.
posted by whatisgod at 6:35 pm
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