The secret to getting and staying organized is the same as the answer to “How do you eat a computer?”. The answer is “One byte at a time!”. Set a monthly reminder and use these tips to crash clutter instead of your hard drive.

Do it for you! Even an occasional clean up will reduce your daily frustration.

BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP
Backing up your work on a regular basis gives you the security of knowing that even if you do toss something before its time — you can retrieve it. This makes maintenance a worry free activity. You will be amazed at how much you never refer to again.

Remember, 80 percent of what we file never gets referred to again. I back up my entire hard drive with Norton Ghost onto an external hard drive every week!

EVERYDAY BASICS:
Regular maintainance eliminates wasting time searching long directory lists every time you open a file.

Put an exclamation point (!) in front of any folder or subdirectory that you use frequently so it appears at the beginning of any directory. (ie, !seminars).

Always review temporary (.tmp) files before deleting.

Back-up large unused files (or when finishing a project) to CD Rom.

Make Archive folders in each major directory/folder for sorting unused files and compress them.

QUICK MAINTAINANCE ON WINDOWS SYSTEMS:
Empty the recycle bin.

Delete all files in the Temp folder in the Windows folder.

Right after powering up, do a FIND ALL *.tmp* & delete:
from Start Menu, select Explore, Tools,
Find, Files or Folders.

Run the ScanDisk hard-drive housecleaning program:
from Start Menu, select Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk.
After ScanDisk runs, Run Disk Defragmenter (before lunch or a meeting), from Start Menu, select Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

ON THE NET:
Use your Internet browser to clear its Disk Cache or Temporary Internet Files.

USE A QUICK, THOROUGH DRIVE CLEANING SOFTWARE LIKE:
Cleansweep, PowerCleaner, Remove-It, WinDelete 3.0 which will:
Remove promotional software (Windows uninstallers won’t).
Find temp files so you can delete after reviewing.
Delete redundant files.
Monitor future installations to enable complete uninstallation.

You’ll hae a better day when your computer is less cluttered!

For more time saving tips go to http://www.organize.com

About the Author

Copyright, Eve Abbott All Rights Reserved. The Organizer Extraordinaire’s new book “How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain” TM is available online at http://www.organize.com Sign up for more time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best! Eve’s guide is the first book to offer easy, online assessments that will help you make your own personal organizing solutions match your individual work style.

Written by: Eve Abbott, the Organizer Extraordinaire

There comes a time in a person’s life where no matter how much you fight it time takes its toll and we begin to slow down in how we perform our daily activities. However, in order to extend our youthful glow and energy levels it is important to eat right, exercise, and keep a positive outlook on life.

Now you may ask what has any of that got to do with “Secrets To A Healthy Computer?”

Well, in a way we’re all just like a computer. If you neglect to take care of yourself you soon will cease to function properly and the many tasks that once were easy to do now take twice as long to accomplish and often require you to rest or “reboot” after a malfunction.

I can’t tell you what foods to eat or what exercises to perform because I am not a nutritionist. Although, with my experiences in the personal computer field I can share with you some tips of how to keep that rectangle box of circuitry that sits within sights range functioning at maximum performance as long as time will allow.

Some important steps to follow are…

*Make certain that your computer is located in a well ventilated area and that all air vents are unobstructed to prevent overheating and premature failure to any internal components.

*Clean out the dust build-up at least every 6 months from the inside of the computer case including case vents, power supply vents, and all visible circuitry with a few cans of compressed air that can be purchased from any major computer store or electronics outlet. This will help reduce the chances of overheating and circuitry damage.

Before cleaning just be certain to always unplug the computer from the wall outlet and never physically contact the circuitry inside the computer case to prevent damage.

*Be prepared for an unsuspected failure by always making backups of any important data that you do not and can not afford to lose.

I personally keep updated backups of my website and even store the disks at a remote location away from my every day use computers just in case a disaster were to occur and my main computers were destroyed resulting in the need for those lost files.

*Purchase and install a well known anti-virus program that can be regularly updated with the latest virus definitions and ran during boot-up to help protect your computer from being the victim of an unwanted infestation.

*Every few months or so run your computer’s “Scandisk” program followed by the “Defragmenter” program to maximize the efficiency of your hard drive.

If you are not certain of how to use these utilities and being that the steps to execute these programs varies slightly from one operating system to the other it would be easiest to simply use the “Help” option that can be found by clicking on the START button found on your computers desktop.

The START menu will open up a drop-down-box that should display the “Help” option. By going here you can enter the keywords that deal with the answers to the subject you are searching for.

*Run your computers “Disk Cleanup” utility every other week or so. If set the “Disk Cleanup” utility will automatically empty the recycling bin and recover some wasted disk space by removing the internet temporary files that seem to always accumulate.

Again, use the “Help” option if you are uncertain of how to perform this task.

*Never smoke near a computer because the cooling fans will pull the smoke into the case where it can coat the inside parts of the computer with a residue which in turn can damage sensitive components.

*Place the computer case in an area where it will not be accidentally kicked or bumped to prevent the loosening of cables and damage to internal parts.

*Invest in a high quality surge protector to provide your computer and monitor against voltage spikes or “surges” that can dramatically shorten the life of your system. Just like most items in a store, “You get what you pay for”. So don’t skimp out on this important device!

Its also not a bad idea to invest in a surge protector that includes what is called a “Data Line Protector” which allows you to connect your telephone lines to and serves the same purpose for the telephone line to your modem just like the surge protector does for the electrical household current lines.

*Finally, if you plan on being away from home for more that a few days at a time or if there is a thunderstorm brewing in your area it is a very wise decision to always unplug all electrical lines and modem telephone lines from your system. Even with a surge protector installed it is possible that such a large voltage spike such as one caused by a lightening strike could prove fatal to any computer system.

Dan Preston is the webmaster of a neat site called InfoHeaven Digital Books and The Online Book Store where you can find useful and Fr’ee information along with many how-to digital books that cover a large variety of interesting topics. http://infoheaven-digital-books.com and http://online-book-store.net.

Written by: Dan Preston

COMPUTER CRASH
Do these words strike fear into you? If not, maybe they should! A computer crash is at best time consuming and expensive, and at worst a genuine business disaster. Here are things you can do now to prevent a crash and/or insure a smooth recovery whether you use your computer at work or for your personal life-or both, like me!

The first rule in minimizing computer disasters is backup. The second rule in easier data recovery is BackUp. The third rule in computer organizing is BACKUP. I am astounded at the number of people (in large and small businesses) who do not back up their work regularly. Without good backups, you risk losing everything if your hard drive goes belly-up.

Start by setting all of your programs to save automatically after 2 minutes. This will protect your work against temporary freeze-ups and unplanned shutdowns.

Second, plug your computer, monitor, and other electronic equipment into a UPS Battery Backup unit to protect it from power surges and outages. A unit like this one will give you 5 minutes to save your work and shut down your computer normally if the power goes out.

Then-BACK UP! (If you’re not sure what the best way to back up is, keep reading.)

I bought a brand new Hewlett Packard Pavilion XP system and began to back up weekly. Seven months later, I returned from making a cup of tea to hear my computer going click-click-click loudly. My hard drive had just crashed for no reason at all. As is often the case, I lost everything on it.

I felt confident because I had my data backed up by copying my entire working C-drive onto a CD-but even with backups, and even if your computer is still under warranty, let’s get realistic about how much time and money a crash can end up costing you.

It took four days for me to get the special shipping box HP sent me to return the computer. They replaced the hard drive, and it was returned within 10 business days at no charge for repair and shipping. This still adds up to three weeks without my computer.

First, I rented a laptop and spent hours installing the programs I normally use. Laptop rental cost me $250.00 for one month, with a $500 refundable deposit. I could have rented a desktop system for a little less per month, but I would have had to wait a week to get the computer. It was great to have the laptop to use until my repaired computer arrived. But, I had to go through the same restoration process again when it was returned with a new hard drive. More time lost and more frustration, too.

Second, I spent hours importing my data from backup CDs. I still lost almost a week’s worth of data (Quicken entries, Word documents, calendar and contact information) because that’s how long I go between backups.

Third, I spent hours recreating the custom settings on my software. Fourth, I had to install some smaller programs that I’d forgotten I would need.

THE DAMAGE:
Sometimes data can be recovered from a dead drive, depending on what has caused the crash. Professional data recovery services charge from $500 to $1500 to get your data back, and you have to pay whether or not they recover anything.

You can find more information about data recovery services at http://www.drlabs.com/pricing.html and http://www.dtidata.com/data_recovery.asp.

I paid $1,000.00 in computer consultant fees to get the laptop set up, and my computer taken apart and set up again to get it running A-OK. That’s apart from data recovery costs, which my backups saved me from having to pay.

The grand total: $1,250.00 and 7 days in lost time.
Pretty expensive considering that I had all my current data backed up onto CDs.

BACKUP OPTIONS

There are many ways to back up information. Diskette, CD, Zip drive, External hard drive and Web (on-line). I will not discuss tape drive backups simply because tape media is unreliable and awkward compared to newer technologies. If you have more than one computer, you can back up from one to another via network drives-but that only protects you in the event that disaster strikes one machine at a time.

There are four questions you need to ask yourself regarding your back-ups:

1) How critical is your data? (My business and life are on my hard drive = critical)
2) Do you add or process high volumes of information?
3) In what time frame do you add enough to make it a real loss? (day, week, per project)
4) Do you work with very large files of any type?
The more information you process or add to your computer hard drive, the more often you need to back up. For high volume or crucial files you need to backup daily.

Diskette:
There is the small file backup onto diskette. For example, you just entered a lot of Quicken data and you don’t want to take a chance on losing it but you don’t want to do a full back up, or you have a single Word file, just pop it on a diskette. Remember to label any and all backup media with contents and date.

ZIP drives and disks:
ZIP drives and disks can work well for back ups of larger projects. I had a client who was an author and she kept one ZIP disk for each of her books, which contained every file related to the book – not just the text. If you are satisfied using a ZIP drive and disks for your data storage – don’t change to another media. Note: many more people have CDs than zips, so if you need to share data you may need to switch to CDs.

CD:
In the same way you archive paper every year after taxes (along with a backup of your accounting program and data), consider backing up entire projects onto CD when you’re finished. This keeps the data available and safe, without cluttering your hard drive. You can file a project closeout CD with the matching archived paper files. Or keep a variety of backups in a CD organizer (date labeled) divided up into Projects, Backups and Programs.

The backup CDs I use are ‘data only’ to safeguard important information in case a problem develops in between system backups. If you are going to archive (e.g., taxes) and may not access the backup for a long time – go with CDs. CDs are more stable, and you are less likely to run into trouble with irretrievable data. Always use premium brand-name CDs (or other media). Discount media is more likely to fail.

Disk ‘Cloning’:
For $70 or less, you can back up your entire drive (operating system, programs and data) using “disk cloning” software (Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, or PowerQuest Drive Image. You can store this “image” of your drive on removable media like CDs and ZIP disks, on tape, or on an external hard drive.

You’ll still have to spend a lot of time doing the backups and most people will end up with a set of at least 10 CDs for each backup, since the copy of your drive will take up about 50% of the storage space as your drive itself. (That’s not the size of your whole drive, just the part you have filled up.)

You can get more information about disk cloning software at:
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/
http://www.drive-backup.com/

Web:
There are on-line services (e.g., www.connected.com) which will automatically back up your computer (either totally or just the changed files). This backup and restore option is limited only by the speed of your connection to the internet. Some people leave their computer on all night to do the backups. The reverse process will be more complicated, because you cannot restore directly from the web. Many information technology and graphics professionals use web services because of the massive files they process each day.

Your backup files are stored on their server. This is good because it is off-site in case of disaster recovery. Unfortunately, your data is only as secure as the server it is on. I don’t use this option, because I don’t think there is any function on the internet that is as secure as doing it myself and keeping control over all the data at all times. If you don’t use massive files, you don’t need it.

External Hard Drive (XHD):
I chose this option after my crash disaster because I can recreate my entire system without the wasted time of restoring my operating system and settings, downloading programs and data from backups, and resetting application customizations, etc.

An external hard drive ($200) with ‘disk cloning’ software lets you put your entire drive onto your backups. If you don’t use the ghosting software you can only put programs, and data backups onto the external hard drive, not the operating system itself. The ghosting software will enable you to make a ‘boot disk’ just for restoring from the external hard drive to your main computer.

This option will allow you to completely restore your computer, if necessary (with no hard drive damage). Or, install a new hard drive on your computer and then restore immediately.

Just plug the external hard drive into the computer and start the backup, which verifies the data. Then, you unplug the external hard drive. This takes about fifteen minutes total for my backups. After backing up, I store the XHD in the trunk of my car (in a laptop case for protection). Even if the house burns down I still have my entire computer capability just outside in my car.

First, put an XHD ghost of just your operating system and programs with all the custom settings. Second, do a ghost of your entire system (operating system, programs and data). Third, do regular working drive data backups. Make sure any programs you ever use are in the second XHD backup, and/or in your working hard drive for your ‘regular maintenance’ backups.

I can get a new computer, copy everything I need and get to work. One possible downside to this; if you have to ‘recover’ on a new computer with a new system (different configuration and drivers), you will have trouble using the restored system until you reload the correct drivers and eliminate the ‘old’ ones.

Backup, BackUp, BACKUP!
So, how can you combine these different backup choices to work in your particular situation?
Take the simplest method that will safeguard your information. If all you need is a diskette file box for backups – great!

I use the XHD once a week for a programs and data backup. In between I use diskettes or CDs, depending on the size of the files and how long I want to maintain them. There is enough room on my XHD to put 4 total system-program-data backups of my entire XP system into it. Once, you’ve done an operating system backup, unless you change your configurations or programs, you don’t need to do it again. For regular maintenance, do your working ‘data’ drive.

If you do nothing, you are guaranteed to have a disaster sooner or later. Choose what works best for you and set a reminder to BACKUP as often as you need to stay sane when it does happen.

For more time saving tips go to http://www.organize.com
Copyright 2005 Eve Abbott. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Copyright, Eve Abbott All Rights Reserved. The Organizer Extraordinaire’s new book “How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain” TM is available online at http://www.organize.com Sign up for more time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best! Eve’s guide is the first book to offer easy, online assessments that will help you make your own personal organizing solutions match your individual work style.

Written by: Eve Abbott, the Organizer Extraordinaire

When was the last time you sat through a terrible presentation using computer projection? When was the last time you gave one? If you want to avoid disaster and give your career a boost then apply these ten tips the next time you present with the computer projector. And if you want to do a friend a favour then slide them a copy of these tips before their next presentation.

The biggest mistake is to believe that cool graphics will make up for your lack of presentation skills. If you can not cook – it does not matter how good the stove is. Use these tips to develop your presentation skills and work with the tools. The computer is only a tool. You are the presenter. When you present with multi-media you are more than a performer. You are a producer. Be aware and stay in control of what you and your technology are doing to the audience.

1. Stand on the left side as the audience sees you. Because we read from left to right your audience can look at you then follow your gesture to the screen. Their eyes are comfortably moving left to right, they read the text then they return to you. If you stood on the right side their eyes have to make too many movements to read the slides and watch you. If you present using Hebrew, (read right to left), stand on the right side of the screen. If you present using old Chinese, (top to bottom), climb on top of the screen, (just kidding).

2. You are the show. Be heard and be seen. Stand away from the computer and in the light. Use a remote mouse to get away from the computer. Too many people hide in the dark behind the laptop. Arrange the lighting in the room so that you are in the light while the screen is dark. You might need to unscrew some of the ceiling lights to get it right.

3. Turn off the screen savers on your computer – any that are part of the Windows software – plus the one that comes with the laptop. It is embarrassing for you to be talking about important points you thought were on the screen while they are looking at flying toasters or Bart Simpson. It is even worse when your energy saver kicks in and shuts it all down. Remember to adjust this as well.

4. Learn how to use the switch that toggles both screens on. Often this is a function key. This toggle controls whether your laptop or projector – or both are on. You want both on so you can look at the laptop while the audience watches the same image behind you on the screen. Occasionally glance quickly at the screen just to check. But put your laptop between you and the audience so you can be looking at your audience while speaking.

5. Colours appear differently on the projector, the laptop, and the desktop where you designed it. If the exact colour is important, (perhaps for a company logo), test and adjust the colour ahead of time.

6. Keep it simple with the colours and special effects. Use no more than six colours on a slide. Use slide transitions and builds to entertain without detracting from your message. Effects like partial build reveals one point at a time allowing your audience to stay right with you.

7. Motion attracts their eyes. Gesture to the screen when you want them to look there. Use moving text to grab attention. Stand still when you want them to look at the screen. Move when you want to capture their attention again.

8. Test your slides for size and readability by standing six feet away from the monitor. If you can read the monitor then your audience will likely be able to read the screen. If they can not comfortably see and read your screen all you did was to annoy them.

9. Arrive early and test everything. Re-read this line – again!

10. Murphy loves technology. Be prepared with backup files, an extra power source for the laptop and projector and spare batteries for your remote mouse. It only takes one little thing to spoil it. Be prepared to give your presentation without the hardware.

Bonus TIP: People buy you – not your technology. You are always selling yourself – don’t get lost in the technology.

About the Author

© George Torok is licensed to present Power Presentations™ by Peter Urs Bender, author of the best seller ‘Secrets of Power Presentations’. Torok is co-author of ‘Secrets of Power Marketing’ and host of the radio show Business in Motion. He delivers seminars across North America on thinking and communication skills. He can be reached at (905) 335-1997 or George@Torok.com For more tips visit www.Torok.com and http://www.speechcoachforexecutives.com

Written by: George Torok

It seems that the longer you own your computer, the slower it gets! A lot of people will keep their computer until it gets so slow that they feel they need a newer, faster model. Some feel like the reason it is getting slower is because it is getting older, when that is just not the case. Your computer should run just as fast as the day you brought it home – if you follow these 10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Computer.

1. Empty the Temp directory regularly. After a short while, the temp directory fills up with hundreds of temp files that always get scanned over when Windows starts up and when programs launch. This slows everything down immensely.

Rule of thumb for Temp Files: If you don’t have any programs open (and nothing minimized in the bar below), then you shouldn’t have ANY temp files in your temp directory. If you do, delete them.

To delete Temp files, make sure NO programs are open, and…

a. In Windows 95, 98 or Me, go to C:WindowsTemp and delete everything inside the Temp folder.

b. In Windows 2000 or XP, it is a little trickier. First, make sure that you can see hidden folders. Double-click My Computer. Click on the Tools pull-down menu, and then on Folder Options. Click on the View tab. Scroll down and click on Show Hidden Files and Folders. Click Ok. Now you can go to the C:Documents and SettingsAdministratorLocal SettingsTemp folder. Delete everything here.

2. Empty the Temporary Internet Files regularly. To empty Temporary Internet Files, go to your Control Panel and double-click the Internet Options icon. Choose to Delete Cookies, and to Delete Files. This will clear all of your Temporary Internet Files.

3. Check your hard disks for problems.

a. For Windows 95, 98, or Me, double-click My Computer. Right-click the C-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to check the computer for problems. If you choose to do a Thorough Scan, this will do the hardware check for physical disk damage or sector damage. Choose to fix any errors it finds.

b. For Windows 2000 and XP, double-click My Computer. Right-click the C-drive and click Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to check the computer for problems. Click on Check Now. You will then have two check boxes. The top option is for the file check, and the second option is for the hardware (physical disk) check. Check either one, or both. At least check the top one. Hit ok, and reboot. This may take some time, but let it run.

4. An even more thorough disk check, would be to use a 3rd party utility. One of my favorites is TuneUp Utilities 2004. It does cost $39.99, but they do offer a FREE download trial of 15 days. This program does a really good job of fixing software and physical hard drive problems. It also tunes up your system for increased speed, and streamlines your operating system for peak performance. Download it HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

5. Or, you can do a few of the performance tweaks yourself, if you have Windows XP. By default, EVERYTHING is turned on in Windows XP. It isn’t very streamlined for performance, but rather for appearance. You can turn off a few of the unnecessary features, and Windows will still work just fine, and maybe a little faster.

To do this, right-click on My Computer and click on Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click on the Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, you will see a list of check boxes. By default, these are all on. You really don’t need any of them for Windows to run. Go through the check boxes one by one, and determine which ones you can and can’t live without.

6. Turn off Active Desktop. Active Desktop turns your desktop into a web page, and allows you to have things like a real-time calendar, and up-to-the-minute weather or stocks. These are nice, but really slow down your computer. And even if you don’t use Active Desktop for anything, just having it active can cause a performance decrease. Turn it off.

a. In Windows 95, 98 and Me, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Active Desktop. If there is no check next to it, then it isn’t on. Don’t choose it. Instead, just click the desktop again to get out of the menu.

b. In Windows 2000, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Show Web Content. Again, if there is no check next to it, then it is not on. Do not check it.

c. In Windows XP, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, choose Properties. On the Desktop tab, choose Customize Desktop. Now, on the Web tab, make sure that there are no websites chosen here. If there aren’t any, then Active Desktop is not on. Cancel and go back to the desktop.

7. Install and run a good AntiVirus program to keep out viruses that can take over your system. One of my favorites is AVG. It is not only a really good AntiVirus program, but it is also FREE! If you don’t have any AntiVirus software on your computer, get AVG AntiVirus NOW by downloading HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

8. Get rid of Spyware. A lot of computer users have Spyware and don’t even know they have it, much less how to get rid of it. If your computer has been taking you to websites that you don’t want to go to, or if you get pop-ups when you aren’t even on the Internet, or if your computer has been running extremely slowly lately, for no reason, you probably have Spyware.

On all of the computers that I setup, I install two different AntiSpyware programs: AdAware SE and SpyBot. These two programs are highly recommended by TechTV (G4) and other computer authorities (including my own research on Spyware) and work very well together. They compliment each other and catch Spyware that the other misses, but together, do a very good job.

Get SpyBot HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp. Download all updates and run the Immunize option a couple of times.

AdAware SE does a good job when you keep up on the updates and manually scan your system with AdAware. Get it HERE… http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

In some cases, when the Spyware has become too entwined into your system, even a computer repair technician can’t get rid of the Spyware. At this point, it is better to just backup only what you need and have the operating system reinstalled. Believe me, when your computer gets to this point, you don’t want to just put a “band-aid” on it. Just start from scratch with a clean system. It’s the best way to go.

9. Streamline MSCONFIG. One thing that really causes a HUGE performance decrease is to have unnecessary programs running in the background. Some of these programs can be seen in your System Tray (located next to the clock). These are tiny programs that are robbing you of memory and processing power. Some of them you need, while most you don’t. Some of the programs you DON’T need are printer icons, CD burning icons, shortcuts to programs (such as video settings), AOL, any Instant Messaging Programs, etc. Just because these programs aren’t always running, doesn’t mean that you still can’t print, burn CDs or Instant Message. They can all be run from a shortcut.

You can use a utility, called MSCONFIG, to turn OFF unnecessary Start Up items.

a. In Windows 98, Me, and XP, click on StartRun and type msconfig. Click on the Startup tab. This is a list of everything that is running in the background, some of which show up in the System Tray. Now, be careful, some of these you do need. Some items to keep are Ctfmon.exe (XP), Scan Registry (Win98, Me), Task Monitor (Win98, Me), System Tray (Win98, Me), LoadPowerProfile (Win98, Me), Rundll.32, any AntiVirus programs (such as McAfee, Norton, or AVG). Others, you can uncheck, such as NeroCheck, ypager, qttask, AOL, and any other Instant Messaging programs, or printing programs. Remember, if something doesn’t work, because you turned it off, it can always be turned back on. You just have to reboot every time you make a change here. But, as you uncheck the unnecessary programs that run in the background, you will see that Windows loads much faster, that there are less icons in the System Tray, and that your system is much more “snappy” and quick to respond.

b. In Windows 2000, MSCONFIG wasn’t supplied. You actually have to download and run an MSCONFIG utility. Download the MSCONFIG utility HERE… http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html.

After you reboot, you will have a window that says that the configuration utility was edited. Just check not to show that in the future, a check box at the bottom. This just means that there was a change made to the MSCONFIG.

10. Defragment your hard drives. NOTE: to efficiently defragment a hard drive, it likes to have 25% free space. It can still do the defragmentation with only 15% free space, but it takes quite a bit longer. If you can, delete any unnecessary files before deframenting your drives.

a. To defragment your hard drives (in any Windows operating system), double-click on My Computer. Right-click on the c-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose the bottom button, to Defragment Now…

Good luck. I hope this article has helped you. If you live in the Lapeer County, MI area, and would like a Professional professionally TuneUp your computer(s) in your home or business, please contact Lapeer Tech Group at (810) 793-1093, or visit our website at www.LapeerTechGroup.com

About the Author

I have worked in the IT field since 1989 and hold several Microsoft certifications. I am a network administrator and owner and operator of Lapeer Tech Group, located in Columbiaville, Michigan (just outside of Lapeer). During these years, I have supported both Macs and PCs, am an accomplished graphic and web designer, and have had the opportunity to support 2nd and 3rd level enterprise networks for GM, EDS, Delphi and Delco.

Written by: Jim Shutes