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Part 2 of our Podcast with Rich Elswick from Bizznetworx |
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 If you are interested in PC software must-haves, listen to Part 2 of our podcast with Rich Elswick, owner of IT consultancy Bizznetworx. Click here to listen. The podcast is about 3 minutes long. |
| Reader's Questions |
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Question: "In your latest newsletter you recommend going through Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs to remove any unused programs. I think you should recommend more caution in this because the usage statistics are often way out.
My PC shows programs I run almost every day as being used 'rarely' and giving last usage dates months ago when I used them today."
Regards,
Colin
Answer: KYPCH - Good point Colin. The usage statistics can very well be off. Still, by perusing the list, you may see some programs that you no longer use.
Question: "I ran CHKDSK//f/r but I was not at my computer when the programme finished its check. Where can I view the result of the check?"
Marc
Answer: KYPCH -Go to the control panel / administrative tools / event viewer
Then click applications in the upper left. To your right look for a source called Winlogon and that will show the results of CHKDSK. |
| Duplicate File - Twice is Not so Nice |
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Duplicate files, whether pictures, videos, text or other type can take up unnecessary space on hard drives, and that's a waste of resources and ultimately a detriment to your computer's health. Now, a word of caution - not all duplicate files are bad!
Some programs need duplicate files, and even Windows uses duplicate files. So, if you don't know what a file is or why it's on your computer, you should probably leave it alone - better safe than sorry.
Now, for those duplicates that are unnecessary and you are familiar with - such as that picture of your dog or cat - you can probably delete them. A simple way to do this that is risk free is to look into your folders where you see the duplicates, and delete them.
Especially on your large files, you'll quickly recover lots of space. There are also tools that exist that can do this for you, and in an upcoming issue we'll be telling you about a particular tool we recommend to help with this task.
And remember, after you've recaptured some space, go ahead and defragment with a tool that consolidates free space to make the most of your newly found space. |
| NEVER forget your anti-virus! |
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Malware such as worms, viruses, Trojans and other malicious code are some of the worst impediments to a healthy PC. And even worse, new threats are created every day, so you need anti-virus protection to keep your computer safe from these threats.
There are different approaches to anti-virus and lots of options to choose from. Most good anti-virus programs allow you to choose to run in real time, or only when a file is accessed, and still others when the user tells the program to check. Many use a combination of these approaches and more.
We like real time, so you're always being protected. The resource usage is minimal, but the ability to eliminate potentially devastating problems is critical.
Here are a few anti-virus programs we would recommend. Of course, you should evaluate each of them on your own to see which you are most comfortable with and find which suits your unique needs.
Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security
Symantec Norton Antivirus
McAfee VirusScan Plus
BitDefender
Kaspersky Anti-Virus |
Volume 1 Issue 4
Welcome to the 4th edition of Keep Your PC Healthy, Raxco Software's newsletter about PC health for the "everday" computer user running Windows.