Install Critical Windows Updates Regularly

Update Your Anti-Virus Definitions Regularly

Make Sure File System Realtime Protection is Enabled

Windows XP: Defragment Your Computer
Windows Vista: Defragment Your Computer

Make Sure Your Computer is Free of Spyware

Delete Temporary Internet Files and Alter the Settings

Delete Windows XP Temporary Files
Delete Windows Vista Temporary Files

Save Files on Your H: drive or in “My Documents” Instead of on Your Desktop

Install Critical Windows Updates regularly (once per month or whenever a major patch is released):

It’s very important that you keep Windows up to date with the latest security patches released from Microsoft. Typically, once a Windows vulnerability is announced, a patch will be available within a few days, and a virus will be created to exploit that vulnerability within a couple of weeks. Consider that the catastrophic Blaster Worm never would have been a problem if all users had been regularly updating their computers. (The patch that protects against Blaster was released approximately a month before the virus.)

To update your Windows 2000 computer:

Click the “Start” menu, select “Windows Update” and then, once the page loads, have it scan for updates. When that is finished, install all the “Critical Updates.” The “Windows 2000″ updates are optional, but we recommend you do not install the “Driver Updates.”

To update your Windows XP computer:

Click the “Start” menu, go to “All Programs,” and select “Windows Update.” Once the page loads, have it scan for updates, and then install all the “Critical Updates.” The “Windows XP” updates are optional, but we recommend you do not install the “Driver Updates.”

To update your Windows Vista computer:

Click the “Start” menu, go to “All Programs,” and select “Windows Update.” Once the page loads, all you need to do is click on “Install Updates.” You can view other available updates for your computer but we still recommend that you do not install any “Driver Updates.”

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Update Your Anti-Virus Definitions Regularly

Anti-virus programs are an excellent form of protection, but they are only as good as the most recent update. Even if you updated your definitions the week before a virus comes out, you are at risk until you get the latest update that protects against that new virus. On your Windows-based campus computers, Symantec AntiVirus connects to a special server and updates itself automatically every day. However, you will need to update your Macintosh, home, or dorm computer manually. The process generally takes less than a minute, and the Help Desk recommends running the updates at least once per week.

NOTE: It is recommended to disable Windows Defender if you are using Symantec AntiVirus on a Windows Vista Computer (and you will be prompted to do so if you install this program on your computer).

You will also want to make sure that “File System Realtime Protection” is enabled on your system. For instructions on enabling this option, Click Here.

To update definitions with Symantec (Norton) AntiVirus:

Double click the small yellow shield in the bottom right corner of your screen to open Symantec AntiVirus:

Click the “Live Update” button:

Click “Next.” Symantec will scan for and download all available updates:

Click “Finish,” and you’re done!

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Make Sure “File System Auto-Protect” is Enabled

Open Symantec AntiVirus:

Go to the “Configure” menu and select “File System Auto-Protect”:

Make sure the “Enable Auto-Protect” box is checked, and then click “OK.”

For more information about protecting your computer against viruses, Click Here.

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Windows XP: Defragment Your Computer (once per month)

Windows Disk Defragmenter organizes files on your hard drive and helps it run better and faster. Depending on how fragmented your computer’s hard drive is, this can make an enormous difference in its speed. The Help Desk recommends running Disk Defragmenter once a month.

Defrag your computer by right clicking “Local Disk (C:)” and selecting Properties:

Select the “Tools” tab and click “Defragment Now”:

You’ll see the following screen. Click “Analyze” to see if you need to defragment:

After a moment, you’ll see a screen that hopefully looks like this:

The red lines are fragmented files – notice that there aren’t many on this computer. Still, the files are rather spread around, and you should defragment at this point anyway. To actually have it defragment, click the “Defragment” button – the process will take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on how full your hard drive is.

Often, if a computer has been running for a year or more without being defragmented, the analysis may look something more like this:

If your analysis is like this, you should definitely defragment as soon as possible — this much fragmentation will cause very large drops in system speed and performance. (You may even need to defragment several times in a row if most of your disk space is being taken up.)

Here’s an example of what a finished defragment looks like in “before and after” format. You can see that even though there weren’t many red “fragmented files,” running the tool still greatly improved the organization of the files:

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Windows Vista: Defragment Your Computer (once per month)

Windows Vista Disk Defragmenter organizes files on your hard drive and helps it run better and faster. Depending on how fragmented your computer’s hard drive is, this can make an enormous difference in its speed. The Help Desk recommends running Disk Defragmenter once a month.

Defrag your computer by right clicking “Local Disk (C:)”…

…and selecting Properties:

Select the “Tools” tab and click “Defragment Now”:

Here all you have to do is select “Defragment Now” to defragment your computer. If you wish, you can also adjust your automatic defragmenting schedule – which is highly recommended and makes this process very easy!

Make Sure Your Computer is Free of Spyware (once per month and as needed)

These malicious little pieces of software can often build up and hog system resources. In addition to making your computer run more slowly, spyware will often pop up annoying and sometimes offensive advertisements on your screen. If you have a broadband connection and surf the Internet modestly, you will most likely have over 50 pieces of spyware on your computer after only a couple of months. For information about spyware and how to protect against and clean it off your machine, Click Here.

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Delete Temporary Internet Files (once per month)

Doing this cleans up your hard drive and helps make your computer run faster (not to mention saving space).

In Internet Explorer, go to the “Tools” menu and down to “Internet Options”:

Under the “General” tab, click the “Delete…” button in the Browsing History section:

Check the box in front of “Delete all…” and click OK.

It’s also a good idea to alter how much space Windows will allocate for temporary internet files. By default, this value is fairly large, and if you have a broadband connection there is little need for temporary internet files. (If, however, you connect via a modem, you may want to keep the setting at a high level because it will make browsing faster.)

To change this setting, in the “Temporary Internet files” section, click “Settings”:

Set the amount of disk space to the desired level (the Help Desk recommends 50 MB if you have a broadband connection and 250 MB if you have a modem) and then click “OK”:

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Delete Windows XP Temporary Files (once per month)

Windows temp files are used most often when installing programs and occasionally when running them. Essentially, the computer stores files here for temporary use and then sometimes forgets to clean them out after it’s done. Over time, the files in the “temp” directory can end up taking a lot of space. Luckily, there is no harm in deleting them. To do so, close all programs, and open up My Computer. Double click “Local Disk (C:)”:

Find and double click the “WINNT” or “WINDOWS” folder:

Find and double click the “Temp” folder:

Delete all files in the “Temp” folder. If you get the message that a file is in use, do not delete it:

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Delete Windows Vista Temporary Files (once per month)

Windows Vista temp files are used most often when installing programs and occasionally when running them. Essentially, the computer stores files here for temporary use and then sometimes forgets to clean them out after it’s done. Over time, the files in the “temp” directory can end up taking a lot of space. Luckily, there is no harm in deleting them (These instructions are identical to Windows XP, except that the windows do look different…). To do so, close all programs, and open up My Computer. Double click “Local Disk (C:)”:

Find and double click the “WINDOWS” folder:

Find and double click the “Temp” folder:

Delete all files in the “Temp” folder. If you get the message that a file is in use, do not delete it:

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Save Files on Your H: Drive (or in a folder on your C: drive) Instead of on Your Desktop

Rather than a place to store files, the desktop should be a place for shortcuts to your most frequently used files and programs. This is because your desktop is part of your user profile, which Windows needs to load every time you log onto that computer. The more files and disk space you have on your desktop, the longer it will take to load Windows and log you on in the morning.

Last Modified 06/10/08

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