backup

Tampilkan postingan dengan label defragment. Tampilkan semua postingan

Home > Posts filed under defragment

Formatting A Hard Disk

On Jumat, 23 Mei 2008 Diposting oleh Unknown Label: defragment, format, hard disk, windows 95, windows 98

<div style="text-align: justify;">As with most mechanical devices, prolonged use of the hard disk results in inevitable wear and tear and malfunction. Repeated adding and deleting of files takes its toll on the hard disk and you may get disk error, including the notorious “fatal error” of Windows. This is an indication that you may need to re-format your hard disk to have it working properly again. However, before deciding to re-format the disk it may be worthwhile to try out other alternative: 1. Run Disk Defragmenter 2. Use a cleanup shareware programs such asregclean.exe, available for download. However, if after trying out these alternatives, you continue to get fatal error message, then you probably need to format your hard disk. The procedure of formatting is simple enough but has to be done carefully. When you format the hard disk, all the data on the disk is lost-Windows operating system, software programs, business applications data, games, e-mails messages. In short everything. How to do the formatting Windows 95 1. Double-click on My Computer icon. Then click the icon for the drive you want to format. (e. g. C:) 2. On the File menu, click Format and follow the instructions. Remember that you can not format a disk if there are files open on that disk. If the disk has been compressed, use Drivespace or other compression to format the disk. Windows 98 1. Click Start, click Shutdown, click Restart, and then click on OK. 2. Press and hold the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears. 3. Select Command prompt only and press Enter. 4. At the C:\prompt, type format C: and press ENTER. 5. Follow the instruction on the screen. After formatting you’re left with a blank hard disk with more space then before. The next step is to restore the programs you need on your disk. 1. First reinstall Windows and then application programs you use. 2. Restore your backups into appropriate files. If you use a Zip drive or a CD-writer, these need to be installed first. 3. Reinstall all drivers for the printer, modem or other peripherals. Do the defrag A file on your disk may not be stored all in one place or cluster. For example, if you create a Word document and make changes to it at a later date, the change may get saved in a different cluster from the original file. The more often you make changes to a file, the more disorganized the cluster becomes, and the disk becomes fragmented. This makes the magnetic head that reads and writes data to and from the disk, works harder to retrieve the entire file. Fragmentation of hard drive reduces the storage efficiency and then access time for retrieving information. The process of defragging helps to rearrange the files and unused space on your hard disk so that programs run faster. Before Defragging, it may be a good idea to check how much of your hard drive is fragmented. You can do this by running ScanDisk. Empty the temp folders and Recycle Bin before defragging. Windows 95 and Windows 98: Open the Start Menu, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and choose System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter. You defragging schedule will depend on how much you use the PC. A good rule of the thumb is to defrag every two weeks. Make sure all your files are closed and then you have turned of the screensaver also. Spring Cleaning No more hard disk space left? Getting disk error or illegal operations? It may be time to clean up your hard disk. A few spring cleaning pointers to help you out. <ul style="font-family:arial;"><li style="font-family: arial;">Toss out unwanted applications: check out all the software applications you have loaded on the PC. Delete the old applications if you have installed newer versions. Go to the Control Panel’s Add/Remove program option and uninstall those applications you don’t need.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Run ScanDisk: the ScanDisk option in Windows is very useful application which fixes problem like lost clusters, invalid directory entries and physical disk errors. Run ScanDisk once a month. Go to start, choose Programs, choose Accessories, and choose System Tools and click on ScanDisk. Click the drive that contains the folders and files you want to check.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Defrag often, once in two weeks.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Empty Recycle Bin: Right-click on Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop and choose Empty Recycle Bin from the dropdown menu.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Clean out your folders: do you really need all those download you had undertaken for a past research project or those games you seldom plays? Delete those folders that are not required.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Delete .tmp files and create more space on hard disk. Close all programs. Go to Windows Explorer. Press the key to open find dialog box. Enter *.tmp in the box. Make sure that C: Drive is listed in the Look-in box. Include sub-folders by checking them. When .tmp files appear, delete them.</li><li style="font-family: arial;">Delete temporary Net files to create more space. Go to the temp Internet Files folder in Windows Explorer. Delete all present files.</li><li>There are several Windows components on your hard disk that you could do without. You could remove these individual components from the Add/Remove Windows setup option and create more space on your disk </li></ul>Some windows components that are not necessary are accessories such as Desktop Wallpapers (a saving of 700kB) and games (a saving of 600kB) Before you format: <ul><li style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >Enter the hard drive’s technical specifications (number of cylinders, tracks, sectors etc.) into the PC’s BIOS setup table so that it is available for the machine’s Startup program.</li><li style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >Backup all your important data onto another hard disk, recordable CDs, Zip Drive, magnetic tapes or floppies. If you have a sort of backup space or are in hurry, copy only important folders. Backup your e-mail and address books too. After taking the backups, check them out to make sure that they are okay.</li><li style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >Backup any folders that you share with others over a network.</li><li style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >Keep handy the installation disks or CDs of the application software you use, such as Windows or an office suite. These will have to be re-installed after formatting.</li><li>Keep handy the driver disks for your printer, sound card, CD ROM driver, modem or other devices. These will have to be re-installed after formatting. </li></ul>FAT Facts When a hard disk is formatted, a File Allocation Table (FAT) is created on the disk. FAT keeps a record of the locations of all the files on the disk FAT 16 is the file allocation system used in DOS and Windows 95. FAT 32 file system is used in Windows 98 or Win 95 OSR 2. FAT 32 is considered to be more efficient as it saves more space on the disk. Back to: - <a href="http://computer-infocentre.blogspot.com/2008/05/hard-disk-guide.html">The hard disk guide</a> - <a href="http://computer-infocentre.blogspot.com/2008/05/hard-disk.html">Hard disk optimizing</a> About The Author Pawan Bangar, Technical Director, Birbals, (Hbirbals,Seobirbals,Ebirbals,Ibirbals) Cell:91-175-3150734 Cell:+91-98153-52253 email: pawan@ebirbals.com Yahoo Messenger:pawanishappy@yahoo.com; MSN messenger:ebirbals@hotmail.com </div>

As with most mechanical devices, prolonged use of the hard disk results in inevitable wear and tear and malfunction. Repeated adding and del...

Baca selengkapnya »

10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Computer - Without Upgrading

On Minggu, 10 Februari 2008 Diposting oleh Unknown Label: cookies, defragment, internet, tips, windows 95, windows 98, windows me, Windows Vista, windows xp

By Jim Shutes Lapeer Tech Group <div style="text-align: justify;">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... <a href="http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp</a> 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: <a href="http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp</a> 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... <a href="http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp." style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp.</a> 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... <a href="http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp</a> 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 â€œband-aidâ€ 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 â€œsnappyâ€ 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: <a href="http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html." style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/msconfig.html.</a> 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. 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: <a href="http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/</a> </div>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.

By Jim Shutes Lapeer Tech Group It seems that the longer you own your computer, the slower it gets! A lot of people will keep their computer...

Baca selengkapnya »

Top 10 Ways To Make A Computer Run Faster

On Sabtu, 02 Februari 2008 Diposting oleh Unknown Label: bed sector, clean up, computer, defragment, detect, error, external, faster, game, hard disk, optimize, photo, photoshop, picture, repair, scanner, top 10, website

<div style="text-align: left;">by: Brooks Carver </div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Today I am going to be talking about different ways you can make a computer run faster. There is actually a lot you can do yourself that will boost your PC's performance. So lets take a look at different ways we can remedy that slow computer of yours! 1. Free Up Disk Space A great way to make a computer run faster is to free up some disk space. Windows comes with a disk cleanup tool that helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete without messing anything up, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files. How to use disk cleanup tool. * Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean. * In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list. (If you have multiple hard drives you will have to select which one to scan.) * Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK. * When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click OK. 2. Use Defrag Tool When you add a file or a new program to a new computer, the hard drive is relatively empty so new data is saved to the hard drive in one whole block. When you need to use that information, the computer can quickly access it because it is all in one place. Defragging your system is definitely a way to make a computer run faster. How to use defrag tool. * From the start menu point to "all programs" * Point to "Accessories" * Point to "System Tools" * Click on "Disk Defragmenter" * The disk defragmenter will display the hard drives on your computer. Just select and click Defragment. 3. Get rid of spyware Definition Spyware is software with malicious intent - by design; it does something bad to your computer. Usually, it gets installed without your knowledge. It sometimes takes advantage of the fact that most people click "I Agree" to software licenses without reading them. The only way to get rid of spyware is to have some kind of scanner, sort of like an anti-virus. In order to make a computer run faster and keep it safer your going to need an anti-spyware program. This is tricky, a lot of the spyware programs out there are malicious and will actually add viruses and spyware to your computer by using the "spyware scanner and blocker". So please remember to be very careful when choosing your anti-spyware program. 4. Find and repair disk errors Detect and Repair Disk Errors In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility. How to run the error checking utility. * Click Start, and then click My Computer. * In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties. * In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab. * Click the Check Now button. * In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start. * If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them. Tip: Only select the Automatically fix file system errors check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors. 5. Get an external hard drive Adding an External Hard Drive to your computer will allow you to clear out a lot of the things you don't need to be storing on your normal hard drive. A great example would be your music or pictures. All those songs and pictures are sitting on your computer making it go slower. You will see a decline in your computers performance as soon as you use over half of your hard drive space. Moving all your songs or pictures to your external hard drive will free up a lot of space on your main hard drive. You can even move applications such as photoshop or games. An external hard drive is also handy because it is portable. You can unplug it from your computer and take it to a friends house and plug it in there, sharing photos and pictures very easily. This is truly a great way to make a computer run faster. </div> About The Author <div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;">My name is Brooks Carver and I am a pretty die hard computer tech. I have been working with computer directly for over 20 years now. I have a beautiful wife and daughter, and when I am not programming or fixing computers I enjoy spending time in the out doors. If you like these tips then you will love my website. It gives the top 10 ways you can speed up your computer. It is very user friendly, it has pictures going along with every step to show you exactly what I mean. I also give out valuable information about what anit-virus and spyware programs that are safe to buy and really work. There are other fun things there too, such as top fastest things on the internet that you can vote on. If your looking to make a computer run faster this is your #1 resource! Click below now! <a class="hft-urls" href="http://www.squidoo.com/makecomputerrunfaster/">http://www.squidoo.com/makecomputerrunfaster/</a></div>

by: Brooks Carver Today I am going to be talking about different ways you can make a computer run faster. There is actually a lot you can do...

Baca selengkapnya »