Hardware Technology: 2013

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Function of Software for Preventive Maintenance

File system errors may occur due to the complexity of the file system, buggy software, bad drivers, power failures, or human error. These errors can lead to data loss. To reduce the damage, you can mechanize program schedulers to detect the problem.

Disk Defragmenter

Step 1
Open "My Computer" and select the hard drive you wish to scan.

Step 2
Right-click on your hard drive and then select "properties."

Step 3

Switch over to the tools tab on the menu that pops up

Step 4

Look at the Defragmentation box and click on the "Defragment Now" button.

The Windows Disk Defragmenter program will open and all drives are listed in the top window pane. Since the program is going to be arranging files on your hard drive, it is important that no files are being accessed during the process, or the program won't be able to move them. Close all open programs

The C: drive is where operating system files and programs are installed by default, so make sure that it is selected, then click Defragment. While the program is running, it is recommend that you not use your computer. The time is takes to run the defragmenting process is dependent on the size of your hard drive and amount of fragmentation.

While the program is running you will see a graphical representation of the blocks of files on your hard drive being moved and the fragmented segments joined together. Usually the less gaps of free space between the contiguous segments the better, but as long as the fragmented files are put together into contiguous segments, it will help your computer's performance.

Scan for hard disk read errors

Step 1
Open "My Computer" and select the hard drive you wish to scan.

Step 2
Right-click on your hard drive and then select "Properties."

Step 3
Switch over to the tools tab on the menu that pops up.

Step 4
Look at the error-checking box and click on the "Check Now" button.

Step 5
Check "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors."

Step 6
Press the start button and let the scan complete, following your computer's instructions.

If you receive the following message:

“The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be accessed by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule the disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?

Click “Yes” to schedule the disk check, and then restart your computer to start the disk check.

General Cleaning

Feel free to clean the mouse, the case, the monitor, and the keyboard at least once a year. For the keyboard and mouse, you can use rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. The case and the monitor shell can be cleaned with a household cleaner. For the monitor glass(for CRT monitors) you can use windex and for LCDs use a soft dry cotton cloth to remove fingerprints and smudges from the screen. If this does not completely remove the dirt and splotches, use a small amount of isopropyl alcohol on the cleaning cloth that has been dampened with water. (A small amount of vinegar can be substituted for the isopropyl alcohol). The important thing to remember is that you don’t ever want to spray any liquid directly on the screen of either type of monitor. Instead, spray the cloth with water or a mild window cleaning solution then wipe the screen. You can use the same damp cloth to clean the entire monitor case, as well.

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as an operating system, a server, a storage device or network resources.

Operating system virtualization is the use of software to allow a piece of hardware to run multiple operating system images at the same time. The technology got its start on mainframes decades ago, allowing administrators to avoid wasting expensive processing power.

Virtualization software was adopted faster than anyone imagined, including the experts. There are three areas of IT where virtualization is making headroads, network virtualization, storage virtualization and server virtualization.

· Network virtualization is a method of combining the available resources in a network by splitting up the available bandwidth into channels, each of which is independent from the others, and each of which can be assigned (or reassigned) to a particular server or device in real time. The idea is that virtualization disguises the true complexity of the network by separating it into manageable parts, much like your partitioned hard drive makes it easier to manage your files.

· Storage virtualization is the pooling of physical storage from multiple network storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device that is managed from a central console. Storage virtualization is commonly used in storage area networks.

· Server virtualization is the masking of server resources (including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems) from server users. The intention is to spare the user from having to understand and manage complicated details of server resources while increasing resource sharing and utilization and maintaining the capacity to expand later.

Virtualization can be viewed as part of an overall trend in enterprise IT that includes automatic computing, a scenario in which the IT environment will be able to manage itself based on perceived activity, and utility computing, in which computer processing power is seen as a utility that clients can pay for only as needed. The usual goal of virtualization is to centralize administrative tasks while improving scalability and work loads.

What will happen if there is No technology.

Life without technology would not be a very good place to live in. Many people would be miserable about how their lives would be so much more difficult. If you really think about it, technology is anything that has been created with technical means. Technology is pretty much everything around us, and we would be living like cavemen if we didn't have technology. Nothing would have been invented, and we would have very little intelligence and knowledge of the world. Life with technology, on the other hand, is very easy. We have full access to as much knowledge as we wish to learn and we are able to communicate with people thousands of miles away in seconds. Technology has made our entire lives easier, and we don't really notice or appreciate all of the technology around us because we have been raised with it and it's been there our entire lives.

What is PC Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance can be defined as activity performed on a certain schedule which is intended to prevent breakdowns or deterioration. These activities can include regular inspection along with solving any discovered problems and regularly-scheduled parts changes.

How to do PC Preventive Maintenance?

Fragmentation, hard-disk issues, bad memory, viruses, filled caches, and registry errors can cause computers to act flaky or even stop working all together. With a bit of preventive maintenance, you can keep those machines running in tip-top shape. But what tools to use? The best combination of tools to keep those machines running smoothly such as

1. MemTest is a simple test that determines whether your computer can reliably store information in its RAM. With this tool, you can define how much memory to test and then run the test (with all applications closed). If an error is reported, your RAM is suspect. The only drawback to MemTest (and most software memory testers) is that it can’t pinpoint which memory chip is bad. But if you’re looking for a memory tester that can be run while Windows itself is running, MemTest is your tool.

2. CCleaner can help you with preventive maintenance via two tools to help keep the “bad” out of your machine. Not only can CCleaner keep your disk cache clean, it can keep your registry free of errors. Both of these issues can, over time, result in a computer running less than efficiently or, in worst case scenarios, not running at all. Using CCleaner regularly will go a long way toward keeping your machines running well.

3. HDD Scan is a free hard disk diagnostic tool that supports standard drives, RAID arrays, Flash USB, and SSD drives. With this tool, you can scan for errors (bad blocks and bad sectors), show S.M.A.R.T. attributes, and change a limited number of HDD parameters (such as AAM and APM). By regularly using this tool (not just when there seems to be an issue), you may avoid a catastrophic disaster. The storage device tests include Verification in linear mode, Reading in linear mode, Erasing in linear mode and Reading in Butterfly mode

4. Belarc Advisor is not so much a maintenance tool as an auditing tool. It gives you a clear look into installed software, hardware, network inventory, missing Microsoft hotfixes, antivirus status, security benchmarks, and much more. Just download this free application, run it, save the report as an HTML document, and you’re good to go.

5. Defraggler is one of the best defrag programs available. It will defrag an entire hard disk as well as individual files or folders. You can specify what you want to defrag and how you want to defrag it. Defraggler also offers a portable version, so you don’t have to install the tool on every machine you touch. But I recommend installing Defraggler and setting up regularly scheduled defrags to keep every machine on your network running smoothly.