PC Advice

1. Identifying PC Asset Tag Number

(this is essential for the helpdesk to troubleshoot PC remotely, if there is not a red label on the hard drive, get the PC number by follow the following instructions)

 

in windows 97

right click on 'network neighbourhood'

go into 'properties'

click on 'identification'

'computer name' will be shown

 

in windows 2000

left click on 'my network places'

click on blue text 'network & dial up connections'

click on blue text 'network identification'

'full computer name' will be shown

2. Defragmenting

I have had mixed reports from people. Here are all of the benefits and disadvantages I have found
Disadvantages:

    * Defragmenting often will cause a lot of extra wear on the drive itself, especially if it hasn't been run in a while. But, the more often you do it, the less work it needs to do. Microsoft recommend that you defrag every few weeks.
    * If something happens to the computer while it's defragmenting, you can lose data.

Benefits:

    * It should speed up your computer.  Files are stored in your computer in what are called "clusters". Your files are cut up into "fragments" and stored in clusters.  When you read a file, the hard drive has to look all over the hard disk to re-assemble the file.  The hard drive can go a lot faster when the file is contiguous (all one piece).  "Well then, why do they get split up again?" you may ask.  When you write files, they are written one after the other.  If you open a file up that squeezed between two other files on the disk and make it larger, then it needs to put part of the file elsewhere on the disk.  Why it doesn't just re-write the file elsewhere is beyond me, that's how every non-windows system does it, and that's why all non-windows systems can access the hard drive so much faster.  Anyways, running defrag should put everything back in order. 
 
    * As was stated, when you delete a file it is only "marked" for deletion.  The actual bits don't change until they are overwritten with something else.  Defragmenting moves so many things around, it erases old data that was marked for deletion.
    * Space is freed up.  Only one piece of a file can be in each "sector" on the disk.  If that piece of the file is smaller than the sector, then the rest of the space in the sector will go unused.  When you defrag, only the last chunk of any file will have a partially filled sector.  All other sectors containing pieces of that file will be completely full.  You can recover     several hundred megabytes in some cases.
    * The disk is "refreshed".  The charged particles on the surface of the disk actually loose their charge with time.  By re-writing the data on the disk, the charged particles are Recharged which can make your data last longer.  In most cases this isn't really an issue, but if there is a sector that is starting to become unreliable, defragmenting will prolong the life of that sector.

3. Disinfecting Floppy Disks

1 - Ensure up to date version of Sophos is installed - click on Start > Programs > Sophos Anti-Virus. Then Click on 'Help', 'About' to check the date of the last update. If it is more than 2 months old, it may need reinstalling (see installations)

2 - Click on the green light next to Hard drive (to turn off)

3 - Click on the button next to A:\ (this will illuminate green when switched on)

4 - Insert your floppy disk.

5 - Click on GO, any known viruses will be removed

6 - When complete ensure your green light is illuminated next to the hard drive once more and minimise the Sophos Anti- Virus software window.

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