Return-Path: <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.0.Beta5/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id JAA06768; Fri, 8 Oct 1999 09:38:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 09:38:03 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <Pine.GSO.4.10.9910080832390.19459-100000@moe.cas.utk.edu> Errors-To: lmann@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Kenneth Libby <lovely@utkux.utcc.utk.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:719] Most computers need a bit of special monthly care X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: OR Colleagues, During a month of regular use, every computer generates and then leaves behind temporary files that are no longer of use. Plus they might develop defects on their hard drives, and need to be coaxed into keeping their files compactly organized. I recommend doing the following procedures once a month for the most heavily-used computers to take care of these issues. This whole set of steps can take an hour or more, so find a time that's convenient for you. You can help your computer to straighten out your hard drive with three steps. 1) Delete Temporary Files 2) ScanDisk your Hard Drive for physical problems 3) Defragment the files on your Hard Drive You may at any time visit these steps at: http://cls.coe.utk.edu/lpm/pcinvtry.html Here are the specifics of what to do in Windows'95: 1) Deleting Temporary Files Press the Start button in Windows'95 and go to the command Find -> Files or Folders. Choose "My Computer" for the Look in box, and be sure the check mark appears in front of Include subfolders. Then type the following into the Named box: ~*.tmp, file*.chk, m0*.* Please note that the squiggle or tilde in "~*.tmp" is above the [Tab] key on your keyboard. By "m0*.*" understand that the number zero appears in these file names as the second character, not the letter "oh". Be sure the commas are in place and then press the Find Now button. Once the computer finishes its search, all those files need to be highlighted to delete them. Hold down the [Shift] key so that you can press the [End] key on your keyboard to highlight all of the found files. Release those two keys, and press the [Delete] key to transfer them to Recycle Bin. Close the Find Window and next empty the folder named "Temporary Internet Files" within your Windows folder. Double click on the My Computer icon, inside of which you will double click on the C: drive, then find and open the Windows folder within the C: drive. Inside there is the folder named Temporary Internet Files. Every file in that folder may be deleted. To highlight them all, click the first file with your mouse, hold down the [Shift] key and then press the [End] key. Once they are all highlighted, then press the [Delete] key. This is a collection of all the web sites you have seen through Internet Explorer. You may wish to open your Recycle Bin and see if there are any files that you wish to keep before emptying it. Again, you can hold down the [Shift] key to select a list of files as a group to be emptied out of the Recycle Bin. (Now your old temporary files have been cleared out for this month, opening more hard drive space on your computer. How many did you generate in one month?) 2) ScanDisk of your Hard Drive Restart your computer in the DOS mode by pressing the Start button, choosing Shut Down and from the options offered select "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode" The computer will restart and provide you a C:\> prompt on a mostly black screen. At that prompt type in the command "scandisk c:" and press [Enter]. Relatively quickly, the computer will run through five parts of the scan on a blue screen. For the last part, the surface scan, the computer will ask if you wish to complete this last step. Use the left and right arrow keys to choose Yes. Press the [Enter] key to tell the computer your choice. After taking quite a while to complete this surface scan, you will be allowed to see a report of the scanning or to exit the program. Once again use the left and right arrow keys to choose. (Scandisk has checked to see that your hard disk is not becoming damaged, not gaining bad sectors. Generally you do not need to worry if your hard disk has a few bad sectors. If the number of bad sectors grows with every scan, then you should get help! This is why maintenance is important to complete on a routine basis.) Once you do exit the scandisk program, you will be returned to the C:\> prompt, where you may type in "exit" to return to Windows'95. 3) Defragment your Hard Drive Files Finally, double click on the "My Computer" icon to see the icon for the C: drive. Click only once on the C: drive icon so that it is highlighted. Pull down the File menu and go to the Properties command. Click on the Tools tab of this Properties window, so that you may Defragment the files on your hard drive. Press the Defragment Now button and you may even be amused by watching the Details as your files are defragmented. (This organizes the scattered mess of files and gaps on your hard drive.) For an explanation of all these steps and why they are helpful, please see the following page and the links provided there: http://cls.coe.utk.edu/lpm/pcinvtry.html _ "piti" is Sanskrit for "interest and joy in the service of others" Kenneth Libby lovely@utkux.utk.edu (423) 974-4109 Visit the UT Center for Literacy Studies http://cls.coe.utk.edu/
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