| The first preventive step you
need to perform is to take an inventory of your computer system. This information will be
vital if you later have to contact technical support or have your system serviced. Start by noting your serial number and
model number. With this information, your system manufacturer can determine the components
of your system. If you've added components to your system, note the model and version
numbers of the components. You'll find this information in the documentation that
accompanies add-on hardware.
Beyond these basics, you need to
get details of your system's configuration. On Windows PCs, this means copying and
printing a few important system files that will come in handy if you later have a problem
or need to speak to a tech-support person. The simplest way to preserve your system
configuration files is to run the Sysedit program. With Windows 95, start Windows Explorer
and click on the System subdirectory in the Windows directory of your hard disk.
Double-click on the Sysedit file. It will bring up all your system files -- from
AUTOEXEC.BAT to SYSTEM.INI -- in Wordpad windows. From there, you can save them to a
floppy disk and print them out. In Windows 3.1, you'll find the Sysedit icon in the Main
group.
Another option is a new class of
software utility that not only reports your system's configuration but also automatically
resolves many configuration conflicts.
If you own a Mac, you don't need
to copy system files, but you should make a list of all the INIT and CDEV files --
collectively called system extensions -- that load on start-up. Conflicts among these
files are a common source of program crashes on Macs. You can see a list of these files
using the Extensions Manager Control Panel, which also lets you turn off one or more
extensions so that, by process of elimination, you can identify which one is causing you
problems. One limitation of Extensions Manager is that it doesn't let you print a list of
extensions. If you want a list, you have to print the Screen.
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Because it is the place
where you permanently store your applications and, more important, the data files you
create with those applications, your hard disk requires special attention to keep it
operating at peak efficiency. Disk scans for "lost" files and bad sectors will
prevent most disk problems before they occur, while running a disk defragmentation utility
will improve the performance of your system.
Every day, you create new files,
delete unwanted ones, and write updated versions of current files to your computer's hard
disk. Because of the way Windows and the Mac OS assign disk space to files, your hard disk
can become fragmented over time (i.e., your files get placed in pieces all over the hard
disk, because there is no contiguous space large enough to hold them). A fragmented hard
disk slows disk access and makes it harder to recover from disk errors.
To defragment a Windows 95 hard
disk, use the Disk Defragmenter program in Programs/Accessories/System Tools. On a Mac,
use a utility such as the Speed Disk tool that comes with Norton Utilities for the
Macintosh. You should defrag your hard disk every six months. You should also defrag it
after you have created or deleted a lot of files in a short span of time.
Occasionally, a storage area
called a sector on your hard disk goes bad. A utility called a disk scanner detects such
"hard" errors and keeps a table of such sectors so that your operating system
doesn't try to use them to store files. In addition, a disk scanner detects
"soft" errors, where the operating system has lost track of pieces of one or
more files. ScanDisk (found in Programs/Accessories/System tools) is Windows 95's built-in
disk scanner, and it detects both hard and soft errors. On the Mac, you can use the Disk
First Aid program that comes with your system or the more powerful Disk Doctor utility
included in the ubiquitous Norton Utilities for Macintosh. You should run a hard disk scan
at least every month. In addition, if your computer crashes or you accidentally shut down
without going through the proper shutdown procedure, run a disk scan as soon as you
reboot.
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Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and the
Mac OS all provide a menu-driven method to shut down your computer. Don't ignore these
methods. Turning off power to your system while it is still running can be a disaster.
Give your system the time it needs to flush caches, close files, and save configuration
information before you pull the plug. |