Section 1 Antivirus updates and scans

Transcription

1 Step-by-step Guide: Protecting and Maintaining Business PC Performance Section 1 Antivirus updates and scans This step is critical. It is not necessary to pay for and renew annual licenses to Norton or McAfee. In our experience, these programs stop protecting you when you have not paid their renewal fees (and are often included on new PCs for a limited 90-day only protection trial). It is best to remove these programs and install a free antivirus program as below: Recommended --- Microsoft Security Essentials Download from this link: I. Launch Microsoft Security Essentials by double-clicking the green-check icon in the system tray as below.

2 II. You will see the main screen once the program launches. Click on the Update tab. III. This will ensure you have the latest definitions and must be done each time. Click the Update button IV. Once the update is complete, return to the Home tab and change the Scan options to Full (right side)

3 V. The scan will commence and may take hours. If any virii are found, accept all recommended actions. Minimize and go to the next step.

4 Section 2 anti-malware updates and scans Today, antivirus programs are not enough. It is recommended that an anti-malware program --- looking for known software that causes problems like robbing your system of resources, using your PC as a pirated software file server, etc is critical. Recommended --- Malwarebytes Anti-malware free Download from this link: I. Launch Malwarebytes (Start/All Programs/Malware Bytes Anti-Malware) and click the Fix Now button to update the database

5 II. Once the database has updated, click the Scan Now button. Let the scan run, which may take hours. If any malware is found, accept all recommended actions. Minimize and continue to the next step.

6 Section 3 CCleaner / registry and temp file cleaning Drive storage space, startup programs, registry settings, temp files... up until recently, keeping on top of these elements was a very manual and time-consuming task (and best left to the professionals). Today, we ve got a nifty utility that has been bullet-proof in our experience (and can give a 20% speed boost after ONE RUN on some poorly maintained machines). Enter... Piriform CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner, but they went corporate). Download this utility and run it every month; listen to and accept all of its recommendations! Recommended --- CCleaner Download from this link: I. Launch CCleaner (Start/All Programs/CCleaner/CCleaner) and click Run Cleaner

7 II. Once the cleaning is complete, click on the Registry section at left and Scan for Issues

8 III. Once registry cleaning is complete, go to the Tools section and click Startup. Here you will need to make decisions (be conservative) on software not necessary at startup (Push clients, Adobe Updaters, Toolbars). Note that disabling these items will not remove them from the system, but only prevent them from starting up automatically when the PC boots.

9 Section 4 Windows Updates Finally, once all of the hard work of cleaning is done, you can check for Windows updates. We recommend checking as close to possible after the 2 nd Tuesday of each month, when Microsoft issues patches. I. Launch Windows Update (Start/All Programs/Windows Update) and click Check for updates

10 II. You will see this window while the system checks for updates (may take 3-5 mins or more)

11 III. Once complete, you will see a list of Important and Optional Updates. It is recommended that all Important Updates are installed and Optional Updates are reviewed with a scrutinous eye before installing.

12 Section 5 Defrag The final step... Over time, as files are written and erased from your hard drive... your data and programs get fragmented. Think of having 5 different printed documents. If they were shuffled like a deck of cards and strewn about a room, it would take longer to find each page of the document and assemble to read. Defragmentation puts the documents back together (kind of like a teenager cleaning his room every month to get things back in order). Make sure you run step III above before defragmenting your drive. This may take a few hours the first time, but should be about 1 hour per month. Windows defragmenter This is the easiest way to clean up your drive (click Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter). No download necessary.