Managing My Computer

Managing a computer can be a lengthy task. So many aspects of it come into consideration. Perhaps one of the biggest reason why some of us have difficulty managing our computers is time. We believe that this process takes so much of our time, yet we fail, or maybe just forget, to understand that the alternative can and will be much more time consuming that we ever imagined.

For those of us who have ever had a computer crash or get a virus, we understand what time it takes to get your system up and running again. What about the files you ask, well if you hadn't backed up your system or protected your files, you have just lost it all.

The funny thing is, many of the things we should do to protect our computers really don't take all that much time at all. Something that I do to help me keep my system in good shape is that I setup calendar reminders. Simply set up a task item in your calendar and have it repeat itself every two weeks, or every month. Doesn't matter, you set the schedule however you feel best.

One of my favorite programs to run is CCleaner. This program scans your system for unnecessary files and deletes them. Files like cookies, internet pages, and yes, it will even scan your registry for those lines of code that weren't removed when you uninstalled that program.

Beyond using the CCleaner I also protect my computer using Nortan Symantec security systems (download from the US Army - only the best), and more recently my wife and I purchased a network drive to back up our computers. I have never felt that my files were more safe than they are right now. (Hopefully making that statement didn't just jinx me!)

We were able to purchase a RAID drive so everything is backed up twice, without us having to do it manually. If you don't know about RAID, it is basically a redundant drive that mirrors another drive. So we have a 2TB hard drive, but since it is mirrored, we have 1TB to back up our files and the second drive is a mirror. This is helpful in case one drive fails for any reason, we still have our files.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming classes regarding our component research. I was just given the okay from the Mrs. to update our desktop computer so that it runs much faster. I can't wait to get started but I am also waiting to learn what some classmates have found on their research.