Maintenance checklist

[Geoff A.]

Is there a checklist of maintenance that I should do periodically to my PC
in optimum working order?

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

Is there a checklist of maintenance that I should do periodically to my PC
in optimum working order?

I can give you mine. First I have bookmarked update sites for ALL software
on my computer.

I check these sites once a month to see if patches have been released for
any software on my machine.

I do a total backup every two weeks.

Once a week I do a disk scan and defrag and synchronize my clock to internet
time. I also scan for spyware and virus.

I do incremental backups daily.

I have IE set to empty the Temporary Internet Files on exit and I have
cookies disable except for session cookies and sites I frequent that require
them.

Bob

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

As a comment to Fuzzy Logic's list, I stress the importance of keeping the
disk defragged.

 

[Gordon]

As a comment to Fuzzy Logic's list, I stress the importance of keeping the
disk defragged.

Not neccessary - only need to do it once a month with XP - the file
management system in XP is FAR superior to that of windows 9x.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I respectfully disagree. I use a Set and Forget setting in my defragger and
it monitors the need for defragging and takes care of it as needed.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

NTFS may be able to cope better in a fragged state, but that does not take
away from the fact that a drive should be defragged regularly..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

My only addition or comment on all of this is that BACKUP is at the top of
the list. With a computer and your precious files that you cannot replace,
best advice, always live as though disaster is right around the corner.

 

[Gordon]

NTFS may be able to cope better in a fragged state, but that does not take
away from the fact that a drive should be defragged regularly..

I'm not saying it shouldn't - what I am saying is that there is no need
to do it anything like as frequently as was needed with Windows 9x -
when I was using W98 I used to defrag once a week - now with XP I do it
once a month, which is perfectly adequate.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Frequency is dependant upon activities that tend to cause fragmentation..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user

 

[Gordon]

Frequency is dependant upon activities that tend to cause fragmentation..

All things being equal, you still don't need to defrag XP as frequently
as W9x!