Chapter 12: Maintaining Your System in 10 Easy Steps

Overview

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to:

• Maintain your hard disk by checking for errors, deleting unnecessary files, and defragmenting files.

• Set up your system for easier recovery by creating restore points and by backing up your files.

• Keep your system up-to-date by checking for updates, patches, and security vulnerabilities.

• Set up a maintenance schedule to keep your system running in peak form without burdening your schedule.

Computer problems, like the proverbial death and taxes, seem to be one of those constants in life. Whether it’s a hard disk biting the dust, a power failure that trashes your files, or a virus that invades your system, the issue isn’t whether something will go wrong, but rather when will it happen. Instead of waiting to deal with these difficulties after they occur (what we call pound-of-cure mode), you need to become proactive and perform maintenance on your system in advance (ounce-of-prevention mode). This will not only reduce the chances that something will go wrong, but it will also set up your system to more easily recover from any problems that do occur. This chapter shows you how various Microsoft Windows XP utilities and techniques can help you do just that. In particular, we give you a step-by-step plan for maintaining your system and checking for the first signs of problems.