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Quick Maintenance Guide
Why and how you
should maintain your PC's
If you are interested in ensuring that your system
runs correctly then the following information will be beneficial.
During the last 10 years computers have become an
everyday item and we are all familiar with the idea now. However, owning
a PC brings with it a maintenance requirement and it is very important
to recognise this fact or there will always be issues.
These issues will always manifest themselves
inside any accounting program because for most people, it is their
accounting program that they are using all of the time. When your web
page crashes the consequences are zero. When your word processing
document crashes the worst that can happen is that you have to retype
the letter, when your accounting program crashes, you may not only loose
valuable data, but you will also carry an error throughout the rest of
the year unless it is diagnosed and fixed by a very highly skilled
technician.
It is heartening to know that SoEasyAccounting
uses a special technique to keep your data safe and that it is rare that
an issue requires technical attention. However, when assistance is
required there is always a common scenario.
| 1 |
Antivirus issues |
Some
Antivirus programs cause all data to be halted and checked. Just
like driving down the road and having to stop at every set of
traffic lights!
This not only slows down the data storage and retrieval, but also
increases the chances of a data failure whilst the package waits in
line to be checked. And if the Antivirus is having a bad day, it
does not allow some packets of data through and you now have a
problem.The main culprits tend to be
the big brand named products that come pre-loaded on your PC. These
programs not only slow your entire system down, and of course you
and your staff, they are also tested to be only slightly effective
in trapping and removing viruses!
We have tried and tested for many years a
product called NOD32 and found it to not only maintain your system
speed, but independent tests show that it really does keep your
system free of virusus better than he leading brands.
We highly recommend you remove what ever virus
detection you have and install NOD32 now. |
| 2 |
RAM |
Random
Access Memory is used by programs to hold data for quick access. RAM
comes in many different speeds. Unfortunately when you buy a PC it
comes with the bare minimum required so that the price looks right!
Take your PC out of the box and it seems like
lighting!
But give it a few weeks, all the programs and drivers get loaded,
you visit a few webs, download a few emails, and TSR (terminate and
stay resident) programs start to take over the RAM and because it is
gradual you don't realise that your PC is slowing down!
It is not just your PC that is slowing down,
it is also you!
The PC does not mind, it does not have a family to go home to. It
wants you to stay with it as long as possible because it is lonely
without you!
Stop now, it's just a PC, get more RAM loaded
and go home earlier!
At the time of producing this note an extra 512MB Ram (which is
probably 2 x what you currently have) is about $120. |
| 3 |
Registry and removable files |
Every
minute your PC is switched on, changes are being made in the
background to an area called the Registry. You will never know what
the changes are but some of them are actually incorrect. Because
they are incorrect your system will be trying to work it out in the
background. Think of it as having multiple conversations going on in
your mind. As it would wear you out after a while, so it does to
your PC. The pc just keeps increasing the usage of resources until
one day it gives up and crashes through fatigue or a bad piece of
code. There is a very good registry and
removable files cleaner at
www.ccleaner.com and it is free!
Installing and learning how to use it will
make a big difference to your PC performance. |
| 4 |
Spyware
and Adaware |
Do you
like it when someone phones you up and asks if they could do a quick
survey? (yeah right!)
Well that is what happens on your PC all of the time. When you
receive an email, or visit a website, a cookie (small application)
can be dropped onto your pc which will, from then on, report back to
it's boss what you are doing, which web pages you are visiting, and
even send back the key strokes you are making so that a criminal can
take over your identity and your bank account!
Don't like that idea? Neither does your computer
because part of its processing power has also been taken over. Now
these Spys are not viruses so your Antivirus is not necessarily
going to get rid of them.
Two programs that are very good, and should
both be run are
Buy the commercial versions and they are
easier to run. |
| 5 |
Hard
drive maintenance |
On your
PC you have a cd style disk invented by a chap called Reynold
Johnson in 1956, thank you Reynold. This disk spins around at @
7,200 revs per minute. That's about the speed the motor in your car
is running at to be driving along at 160 kph so its really pretty
fast!
IBM 62PC "Piccolo" HDD, circa
1979 - an early 8" disk |
The inside of a hard disk
drive displaying the actuator arm traveling over the top
platter |
When you save a piece of information on your
PC, the disk does not stop. Instead the data is zapped across using
a little block called a read write head.
The hard disk's read-write heads fly on an air
bearing which is a cushion of air only nanometers above the disk
surface. Very interesting!
Now lets re word all of this so we can all
understand it. By some miracle of engineering, I type a letter and
it goes from my keyboard, into the computer box and runs around a
few circuit board thingies and then does a big jump through the air
onto a plate flying around at a hellovaspeed and somehow knows where
it's going? Yup that just about sums it up.
Well not so fast. The disk gets messed up and
files end up all over the place! As time progresses the computer
becomes slower and slower. To fix this problem we need to defragment
the hard drive.
See START - All Programs - Accessories -
System Tools - Disk Defragmenter
Badly maintained hard drive also cause system
crashes. |
| 6 |
Virtual
Memory |
Your
computer system will place a file somewhere on the hard drive called
a swap file. This file is used a temporary storage area for
information the PC may wish to access in a hurry. The
defragmentation process helps keep the file in order but if the hard
drive becomes too full, you will start having problems, delays, and
crashes. Keep plenty of free space on your hard drive.
As a rule of thumb, keep 50% of your hard
drive free. If not remove unwanted programs or data, or get a bigger
hard drive. Again a new hard drive may only cost $120 and by placing
a second hard drive in the PC, and moving the swap file over to it,
your pc will be faster, more reliable, and you will enjoy your free
time more! |
| 7 |
My
workstation is also a server! |
This is
not a good idea. If the accounts person is using the server to do
their work on, then everyone else has to wait. It is not so bad if
they are just accessing SoEasyAccounting but if they go on to the
web, open a couple of spreadsheets, and have emails downloading with
the odd attachment it all adds up as to how long you are going to
wait. Time is money. |
| 8 |
Wireless Network |
No,
just say no! The issue is that in today's world we are looking for
speed!
If you run a cable you can get between 100MB/s to 1,000MB/s of data
transfering across your network guaranteed!
But for some reason, someone thinks, "I want to see no cables" then
buy a wireless router and drop down to 1MB to 50MB/s! If someone
walks in front of the signal the connection can be lost in space and
your data is not going to like that with losses being quite
possible.There are some configurations
where this works such as Terminal Services or Remote Desktop
connection but forget running an Accounting program, any accounting
program, over a wireless connection when you could just put a $10.00
cable in!
If I sound a little frustrated here it is
simply because we keep loosing staff to this phenomena, the calls go
something like..
"Hello help desk? Your program keeps hanging on my computer?"
"Are you using a wireless network?"
"Mmm I think so.."
"Can you open up the Internet?"
"No not at the moment, I think the connection was lost.."
"Ok I know what the problem is, do you still have the box the PC
came in? Good put the PC back in the box and take it back to the
shop."
"is it that bad?"
" Oh yes, the problem is you should not have a pc.."
And there goes another technician because we
have to fire them after an event like that don't we? |
| 9 |
Windows
XP Professional |
Vista
is here but many are not happy with it yet. We don't mind, we run
very well on Vista but your computer technician may well steer you
away from it for a while. Windows XP Pro is a good choice. It has
advanced security features, a Terminal Services licence and is
pretty reliable. SoEasy will run on virtually any Microsoft
operating system (except Vista 64 bit)
We recommend XP Pro. |
| 10 |
Scheduling |
There
are many events that can be scheduled on a PC. Avoid the schedules
during working hours. |
| 11 |
Power |
Learn
to switch off your workstations, monitors, and led lights. Computer
memory has a thing called bleed where memory can become 'foggy" and
by switching your pc's off, when you switch it back on, the memory
is clear. This process will also help save the world and also help
you save money on power. The average work day is 8 hours. So many
companies leave the PC on for the other 16 just so they can come in
in the morning and the PC is ready to go.
Lets do some math's.
- lets say it costs $1.00 per day in power to
run a PC 24hrs a day.
- It is on for at least 12 hours it could
have been switched off for.
- You could have saved 50c a day. Now you
have 5 pc's, that's $2.50/day
- That's $17.50/week
- That's $910/year you wasted in profits!
- You also contributed to Global Warming
If your net profit is say 20%, it will take
$4,550.00 in sales a year to cover the power bill you did not need
to incur. |
| 12 |
Network
Cables |
Network
cables are just like water hoses, they can leak if they are damaged.
If you put a kink in them, pinch them, not have them set up
correctly such as lining them up with power or telephone cables,
then they will possibly cause intermittent issues. |
If you have managed to read all this there are
many conclusions you can draw.
One is that your data inside SoEasyAccounting, or
any other full network product, can become damaged if you do not look
after your PC's.
What is worse is that the problem will not go away
just because you have a software technician fix the data. Until a
maintenance routine is established on your system, there is always a
possibility of issues.
Maintenance is quite an easy task, the hard part
is doing it regularly.
We have a pc/network maintenance guide you can
print and build into your company structure and significantly reduce the
Risk Management to an acceptable level.
Quick Maintenance Guide
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