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________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 1 HOUSEKEEPING and UTILITIES 1. System housekeeping 2. Protecting your system 3.
Backing up WINDOWS UTILITIES MUST HAVE . . .
Anti-virus software YOU 9VE GOT THEM, SO USE THEM Empty the Recycle Bin Scandisk Defrag Task Scheduler PROTECTION . . .
Antivirus Ad-Aware Spybot S&D Firewall 3 ZoneAlarm Mailwasher SPAMfighter FILE MANAGEMENT . . FB-Backup WinZip Adobe Acrobat Reader Word Viewer Excel Viewer Powerpoint Viewer Windows Uninstaller INTERNET Google toolbar SpeedTest IMAGING AND GRAPHICS Picasa2 Faststone Resizer Irfanview GENEALOGY .
. . GenViewer GEDClean GEDmark MISCELLANEOUS .
. Parish Locator WinTree Calisto TreePad Lite Passkeeper ________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 2 System housekeeping (a) External ~ " Clean the keyboard " Clean the screen - damp cloth -meths/water mix " Clean CD/DVD reader - special disk; cleans reader lens " Vacuum air vents - in tower case " Clean mouse - optical - mechanical (b) Internal ~ " Scandisk and defrag the HD " Disk cleanup - Utility to delete surplus files " Delete old files " Compress mailboxes after cleaning old e-mails - OE " Uninstall unused programs` - utilties to do these tasks " Keep system patched - e.g. Windows Update Install and use : " Anti-virus ... more.
less.
- resident !<br><br> Updates " Firewall - e.g. ZoneAlarm " Malware software - e.g. Spybot; Ad-Awar !<br><br> Updates Protecting your system Security Rules 1. Firewalls, anti-virus scanners and spyware detectors require frequent updates. 2.<br><br> Keep firewall and anti-virus programs running in the background. 3. Scan all downloaded files for viruses and spyware prior to installation on your computer.<br><br> 4. Never open an email attachment unless you know the sender and/or are expecting the message. Backing up How?<br><br> - use MSBackup or utility (e.g. Fbbackup) - or Copy/Paste (source destination) - Incremental or full backup ? Where?<br><br> - external destination best : (floppy; Zipdisk; CD/DVD; memory stick; external HD). When? - once a week?<br><br> Month? (as suits activity). What?<br><br> - data files (incl. genealogy database) - Incremental &. or full backup?<br><br> Address book Favourites (My Documents\bookmarks.htm) Mailboxes Archiving old/historical files - keep up with technology ________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 3 UTILITIES for your Toolbox 1. MUST HAVE Anti-virus software Reviewed/compared in NZ PC World, May 2006.] Absolutely essential if you link to the Internet and/or E-mail. There are several common systems, all about the same in terms of effectiveness : 1.<br><br> AVG http://www.grisoft.com/ Version 8.0 is free 7/10 2. Avast! V4.8 http://www.avast.com Version 4.8 is free not rated 3.<br><br> McAfee VirusScan v7.0 http://www.mcafeee.com/ About $80. 9/10 4. Norton Antivirus 2006 http://www.symantec.com/ About $70.<br><br> 8/10 5. Trend Micro PC-cillin http://www.trendmicro.com / About $80. 8/10 Data files (virus signature files) free to download in first year; after that by subscription.<br><br> Most updates are automatically downloaded if/when online. 2. YOU 9VE GOT THEM, SO USE THEM !<br><br> Empty the Recycle Bin Double-click on the icon on your desktop. Select File > Empty the Recycle Bin and press the Enter key to delete all files in the Recycle bin. Scandisk Comes with W95 and upwards : Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scandisk .<br><br> A scanner to catch and correct physical and logical errors on the hard drive. Can be used for other drives as specified. Run weekly, in conjunction with (and just prior to) Defrag.<br><br> Check that there are no 8bad sectors 9 on the disk surface in the summary panel. Defrag Utility which comes with W95+ : Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter . Windows scatters saved files and fragments of files wherever hard disk space exists, thus files become fragmented.<br><br> A Defragmenter is needed to bring them together again. Run weekly, in conjunction with (and immediately after) Scandisk . Task Scheduler Utility with W98+ : Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks.<br><br> Allows the user to specify when other utilities (e.g. Scandisk, Defragmenter, anti-virus) are run - set by date, time and frequency. Icon often on taskbar.<br><br> 3. PROTECTION Firewall - ZoneAlarm free* Version 7.0 Only really needed if you spend extensive time (i.e. several hours per day) on the Internet.<br><br> Zone Lab 9s Zone Alarm recommended for ease of use - checks incoming and outgoing links. ZoneAlarm v7.0. http://www.zonelabs.com Often available on magazine disks.<br><br> Spyware removal - Ad-Aware free* Version 2007 Ad-aware is a free multi-spyware removal utility that scans your computer memory, registry and hard drive for known spyware components, and lets you remove them safely. Free download from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ also often available from magazine disks. Spybot Search and Destroy free* Version 1.4 An application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.<br><br> Download from http://spybot.safer-networking-de/ 5.6Mb. also often available on magazine disks. NB : It is useful to have both Ad-Aware and Spybot, since they complement one another.<br><br> The above 3 are reviewed in NZ PC World July 2004 issue. ________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 4 Beat Spam with Mailwasher Version 5 Mailwasher is a freeware program designed to remove spam, viruses and unwanted attachments from your email before they get to your computer. Download trial version of the application from http://www.mailwasher.net/ Mailwasher Pro is designed for multiple accounts and Hotmail - $29.95 from http://www.firetrust.com/download/mailwasherpro/ SPAMfighter free* Version SPAMfighter Standard is a free tool for Outlook and Outlook Express that automatically and efficiently filters spam and phishing fraud.<br><br> Works with Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, ME and XP. From http://www.spamfighter.com/ SPAMfighter Pro costs NZ$47.00. free* = free to non-commercial users 4.<br><br> FILE MANAGEMENT . Freebyte Backup - v2.4; free utility which can copy and filter a large number of files and directories into one backup directory, and with the advantage of having the ability to do incremental backups (i.e., of a certain type; from a specified date, etc.). Work with W95/98/ME/2000/XP; both from http://www.freebyte.com/fbbackup/ Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 8 A reader utility to read .pdf files, a common medium for program documentation and help files.<br><br> Free; from magazine disks, also http://www.adobe.com/acrobat/ Often available where you see the icon at right (double-click to download) : \x2 \x2 \x2 Word 97/2000 Viewer 3.9MB This is for users who don 9t have MS Word; it allows them to open and view Word 97 and Word 2000 documents. NB : files opened in this and Excel Viewer are read-only/print-only documents. Users cannot edit files, but they can copy information from a document into other applications .<br><br> Work with W95/98/NT/probably XP. Freeware. Also : Excel 97/2000 Viewer 3.9MB Allows the user to open and view Excel 97 and Excel 2000 spreadsheet files.<br><br> Download both from http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/xlviewer.aspx and -wd97vwr32.aspx Powerpoint Viewer 97 2.8MB Allows the user to open and view Power Point presentations. A read-only utility. Download from http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/Ppview97.aspx Works with W95/98/NT/probably XP.<br><br> Freeware. Windows Uninstaller for adding/removing Windows applications. Comes with W95+.<br><br> It is dangerous to uninstall applications via Windows Explorer. Access from Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs then locate the application from the options in the window which appears. WinZip A traditional file compression and decompression utility; now at version 11.<br><br> Comes with a Wizard to assist use. Shareware; costs around $US29 to register. http://www.winzip.com/ also often available on magazine disks.<br><br> EndItAll2 433KB A freeware utility for closing all running programs (including applications running in the background) prior to running a program 9s set-up routine - e.g. installing new software. It has its place when " installing new software " uninstalling software " running other utilties such as Scandisk and Defrag " running memory-demanding games " writing to CD-R 9s that need a big buffer.<br><br> A small program, only 423kb. Available from http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/ Freeware; for W95/98/NT/2000/XP. ________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 5 4.<br><br> INTERNET Google Toolbar When installed, the Google Toolbar automatically appears under the Internet Explorer toolbar : this means you can quickly and easily use Google to search from any website location without returning to the Google home page to begin another search. It is free of charge, is multi-lingual. From http://toolbar.google.com/ Works with W95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.<br><br> [See p. 110, NZ PCWorld Dec03/Jan04 for explanation of Google Advanced Search.] Dial up-Broadband Speed test : test the Download and Upload speed of your internet connection. Are you getting what your ISP promised?<br><br> Go to http://nzdsl.co.nz/module-Speedtest.phtml and click on the 8BEGIN TEST 9 button in the centre panel. 5. IMAGING and GRAPHICS Picasa2 Free 5.2MB Version 2.7 Image editing software.<br><br> Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organise all the photos on your computer; and to edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks. Share your photos with others through email, prints and on the web : it 9s fast, easy and free. Requirements 3 Windows 2000/Me/XP/Vista and Internet Explorer 5.0+ Get it from http://picasa.google.com / Faststone Resizer Free 1.4MB Version 2.5 FastStone Photo Resizer is an image converter / resizer intended to enable users to convert, rename, resize, crop, rotate, change color depth, add text and watermarks to images in a quick and easy batch mode.<br><br> Drag and Drop mouse operation is well supported. From http://www.faststone.org/ Works with Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista IrFanView Free 1.1MB Version 4.1 IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative freeware (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. It is simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.<br><br> From http://www.irfanview.com/ 6. GENEALOGY GENViewer Lite Free Version 1.13 A very good utility for viewing the contents of GEDCOM files. Essential if you are to use GEDCOM file exchange a lot.<br><br> Reads GEDCOM files; presents summary information; able to print standard genealogy charts from the file. GENViewer 1.18 is shareware with free trial period; about $US20 to register. All versions from http://www.mudcreek.ca GEDClean32 Version 3.08 A useful utility designed to clean a GEDCOM file to exclude details about living individuals.<br><br> Shareware; From http://www.raynorshyn.com/gedclean/ ; GEDClean32 v 3.08; $US9.95, about $NZ20.00. GEDmark Version 1.0.1 Utility which works with GEDCOM files by adding a new source citation to each record containing information about the person who created the GEDCOM file (e.g. name, address, etc.) 3 thus marking the genealogical records with the author 9s information.<br><br> Disables the practice of others to take your work and claim it as their own. Works with W95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. $US9.95; obtain from http://www.progenygenealogy.com/ ________________ June2008.doc Printed on 26/06/2008 6 TreePad Lite Freeware 465KB Version 2.9.5 TreePad is an award-winning personal information manager, database and word processor, featuring portability and compactness, simplicity and intuitiveness of use.<br><br> There are several versions : TreePad Lite is freeware. Can be used as a website generator. Useful for keeping notes, documents, hyperlinks and images a click away.<br><br> V2.9.4 for Windows; from http://www.treepad.com/ 6. OTHER Parish Locator Freeware 662KB Version 2.7 Good example of a genealogy utility. A finding aid to locate parishes in England and Scotland between the 1500 9s and 1837.<br><br> Database of 150,000 parishes. It will also list parishes within a given radius of any other parish. Freeware; for W95/98/NT/2000/XP.<br><br> http://www.parloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ WinTree Shareware 673KB Version 4.21 An easy-to-use genealogy chart program which produces several different charts (ancestors and descendants) from your database in GEDCOM format. Version 4.21; for W95/98/ME/ XP. From http://website.lineone.net/~d.j.cooke/wintree.htm Calisto Calendar Utility Freeware Version 3 Displays the English calendar from AD326 to 2999.<br><br> Also shows Easter and movable feasts, English monarchs, English regnal years, old style calendars. Print facility. Windows 95/98/NT/XP.<br><br> From http://homepages.tesco.net/~jk.calisto/calisto / Passkeeper Freeware 87KB Version 1.2 Utility for storing a list of accounts with usernames, passwords and notes. The file is encrypted on exiting the application. NB : requires a password to access the program : if the access password is lost, forgotten or corrupted, the list cannot be recovered.<br><br> Windows 95 and later. From http://www.passkeeper.com/