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routine maintenance
daily tasks;
Note: Some of the following maintenance procedures can be fully automated.
1. disk cleanup
It is essential that the ‘temporary files’ areas are cleaned regularly. Windows automatically creates several scratchpad spaces and holding areas for temporary files based on a percentage of disk space. If John’s system were left on its own for a while it would end up with literally gigabytes of junk files. These areas are not cleaned out by Windows until they overflow, and even then room will only be made free for new temporary files. But ‘temporary files’, by definition, are not permanent, so nearly all of this space can be reclaimed. Using Disk Cleanup on a regular basis can also significantly improve system performance.
how to perform disk cleanup…
Start > Run and in the ‘Open’ field type cleanmgr and click [OK]. A new window will appear – shown below:
Select the partition G: (labelled x64 Windows XP on John’s system), click [OK] and Disk Cleanup will analyze the selected drive to determine the amount of space that can be freed.
Instead of automatically proceeding with cleanup once the drive analysis is complete, Disk Cleanup allows the user to review the categories of files that can be deleted. Make sure all the boxes are checked and the press [OK] to begin the cleanup process.
2. disk defrag
A daily defrag of the E: partition (labelled Work) will keep all John's work files in contiguous spaces on the hard drive. This will speed up access to the files' contents. It also makes any data-recovery (in the event of a catastrophic disk failure) simpler and surer. The more fragmented files there are on a drive, the more performance and reliability suffer as the drive heads have to search for all the pieces in different locations.
how to defrag John's work partition...
Start > Run and in the ‘Open’ field type dfrg.msc and click [OK].
This will open a Microsoft Management Console and display the Disk Defragmenter Utility as one of the snap-in modules. First, you must select the partition WORK (E:). Then analyse it to check if it needs to be defragmented, do this by clicking on the Analyze button.
After the Analyze process is complete, the utility opens a new window with a brief recommendation of what action Disk Defragmenter thinks should be taken regarding the drive. It's important to note that this is just a recommendation based on the percentage of fragmented files to total files and doesn't prevent the drive from being defragmented if you feel it needs to be done and might improve system performance. Click Defragment to begin the procedure.
3. automate anti-virus updates
John's 64-bit Windows XP installation uses AVG 7.1 plus Firewall as its anti-virus solution. The automation of the downloads and installation of virus definitions and other critical software updates is essential. Below is a snapshot of the AVG anti-virus control centre:
Double-click on the Update Manager icon and a new window will appear with two tabs near the top of it. Select the Properties tab and change the settings so that they are identical to the snapshot below. Then click Apply.
AVG 7.1 - update manager settings:
4. create back-up archive and burn to DVD±RW
John needs the partition that all his work is stored on, backed up everyday. His system has WinRAR already installed. First, you will need to create an archive copy of the entire partition. Go to My Computer and right-click on Work (E:) and select Add to "Archive.rar" (shown below).
A new window will open called 'Archive name and parameters'. It has several tabs near the top of it. Go to the Backup tab, check the Backup option 'Generate archive name by mask' and type in the field: 'yyyymmdd'. This will give the archive a date. Then press [OK] to start the compression process.
Below is a snapshot of the archive being created:
While the archive is being created/edited insert a DVD±RW into the D:/ drive.
When the archive has finished being created, burn the archive to the DVD-RW. Then label the DVD-RW case with the date the back-up was made and store it away securely.
That is all the daily tasks required for John's system, click here for a printable procedure checklist. This is for daily use only, it can also be used to report any errors during daily routine maintenance.
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