Mobile PC Doctor
4100 Kernersville Road
Winston-Salem NC 27107
(336) 788-8900
(We recommend UBUNTU a friendly version of Linux)
Now here----> Feisty Fawn
Anti-Virus Software | Anti-
Spyware Software | Backups
| Surge Suppressors | Software &
System Information
Personal Firewall
| Third Party Software | Removing
Programs
After the setup of any computer and updating the Operating System. An important step if your planning on being on the Internet or transferring files in anyway to your PC, is for you to maintain a quality anti-virus software. This is a cost effective method of protecting your systems integrity & data. Using virus protection wisely reduces repair costs induced from the menacing of malicious viruses. Remember anti-virus software only helps to prevent virus infection. All in all an ounce of prevention can often be worth a pound of cure. For some more detailed information regarding Viruses and their types check Here
Also one doesn't have to pay for Virus Protection. For personal use, it is Free here at (Free Anti-Virus software)
Spy-ware or Add-ware attacks are increasingly malicious. An updated and fully patched Windows Operating System is not fully secure without running some type of actively running Spy-ware monitoring and removal tool. We recommend the MS Anti-Spyware tool Windows Defender for Spy-ware protection.
Although we offer this service for a very reasonable fee. (Only 10.00 for the first Gigabyte.) It is actually your responsibility to back up your data for the event of a Hard Drive failure. If you get a virus it can often result in the need of formatting and having to reload your computer. We do not commonly back up data before formatting and reloading your computer, so please advise the technician if you wish anything saved.
Run your computer and any other valuable electronic equipment from a UPS. This is an Un-Interruptible Power Supply (filtered electricity maintained by a battery). Dirty unfiltered power can damage your equipment. Subtle surges cause major havoc on IC Chips slight variances can & will compromise the integrity of your systems. Brown-outs and Black-outs are only visible surges in public electrical power supply these will destroy your equipment prematurely. Electrical components of any type will last longer running from clean electricity. Also remember to plug your phone lines into a surge suppressor. 85% of all power damage to computer components comes from a phone-line power source.
WARNING: New information warns about possible equipment failure and even safety hazards as a result of plugging surge suppressors into the output jacks of a UPS. You should never do this, as they are not designed to be used this way and a hazardous situation could result.
Keep your system information Microsoft Product Key and software in a safe place, (We need this to repair your PC). By law, no one can install a Microsoft operating system or any Application on your computer without your valid product keys. Please supply us with your Applications you wish installed this will help to ensure a quick turn around time for your convenience..
This is a large section with some good Preventive Maintenance advice.
Keep your Microsoft Operating System up to date at www.windowsupdate.com It is advisable to check regularly for applicable updates. These updates protect you from known issues preventing Hackers from running Malicious programs on your computer or from it. Run scandisk as recommended below to help keep a healthy file structure and notify of any failing sectors on the disk. If Scandisk reports Bad Sectors it may be time to replace your Hard Drive...
(We can Mirror or copy your failing Hard Drive to a New one, Most times within an hour... Note this is something that should be done before the original Hard Disk fails completely. )
Preventive Maintenance
Much as the name implies, preventive maintenance, often abbreviated PM, refers to performing proactive maintenance in order to prevent system problems. This is contrasted to diagnostic or corrective maintenance, which is performed to correct an already-existing problem.
This page introduces our Quarterly Security Check-up and discusses some of the general concepts regarding preventive maintenance, the different types that are relevant to PCs. The scheduled check-up's can be considered a summary of preventive maintenance activities as discussed below.
Importance of Preventive Maintenance
Here are some reasons why you need our PC and Network Security Check-ups:
Determining When to Perform Maintenance
Some types of preventive maintenance need to be performed more often than others. The frequency of preventive maintenance depends on the nature of the activity; some things just need to be addressed more often than others. It also depends a lot on what your PC is being used for.
The interval for preventive maintenance on PCs can be determined based on elapsed time or on usage metrics. This is similar to how your car's oil and filter should be changed "every 3 months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first". PC maintenance activities are usually specified as time-based, because this is easier (a PC has no odometer) but they should be performed more frequently depending on prevailing conditions. A PC used on the manufacturing floor of a steel mill needs to be cleaned more often than one being used in a hospital. A disk that is doing heavy Internet file transfers needs virus checking much more often than one that is used standalone and has no modem or floppy disk.
The main enemy of preventive maintenance is simply remembering to do. It's one thing to say "I will check all my computers for the latest Updates, Service packs and definition files", and even to mean it. But how will you remember when the three months are up? One way to address this problem is through the use of our preventive maintenance security check-up schedule, we will perform key maintenance activities on the PC's in your network.
Proper full backups cannot be truly automated because they require the backup media to be changed regularly and preferably kept off site.
System Care: Protecting Your PC
One very important category of preventive maintenance is caring for your system hardware. This includes maintaining the various components that make up your PC, along with looking at overall factors that affect the system as a whole. This section also takes a detailed look at what you can do to keep your system, components and media operating at peak efficiency.
Ambient Temperature and Acclimation
A critical factor in prolonging the life of your PC hardware is the temperature of the components. Components that run hot die young; those that stay cool last a much longer time. One aspect of keeping components cool is using cooling equipment and specific cooling procedures. Another is providing a room or enclosed maintained environment that is appropriate for the hardware.
The general rule of thumb for room temperature is that PCs like the temperatures that average people like. Generally speaking, good operating temperature for a PC is about 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 24 or so Celsius). Cooler than this is of course, better than warmer. Operating a PC in a hot room that is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit can make it very difficult to cool. Remember that some businesses have thermostats on a timer that will make air conditioning shut off at night; in this situation you might want to make sure a PC is not left running overnight, or that a special computer room is designated with independent controls.
Most PC hardware can tolerate being at much lower temperatures (or moderately higher temperatures) when they are not running. If you are transporting equipment or storing it, the temperature concerns are much less than if the equipment is actually in use. However, if you have equipment that has been exposed to very low temperatures and is then immediately turned on, you risk permanently damaging the equipment. It is essential that very cold equipment be brought up to room temperature slowly before use. This is called acclimation.
I used to live in the Chicago area, and one of the "scary" things I sometimes saw is people who order whole systems mail order, in February. The system is delivered, they open the box and of course are excited and want to use their new toy right away. So they rip the boxes open, set it up and hit the power switch. Sometimes this stuff has spent hours or days sitting in barely-heated warehouses or trucks--or even outside on a front doorstep, not a good plan anyway and it is very cold. Turning this equipment when still this cold risks permanently damaging it. Of particular concern are Laptop's, monitors, hard disks, motherboards, and chips of all kinds (processor, memory, etc.) This covers most of the PC of course.
If you take a PC that is at freezing temperature and plug it in, it will warm up very quickly, much more quickly than it would if you left it on a table to warm up in its own time. In some cases, you can raise the temperature of equipment from 0 degrees to 150 in only a matter of minutes. Thermal stress is a leading cause of premature failure of electronics components. This is bad enough when the components are raised from 70 degrees to 150; when they are raised from 0 to 150 it is much worse.
Even more dangerous than this is the possibility of condensation. If you wear glasses as I do, you've probably seen what happens when outside in the cold for a period of time and then come inside--the glasses "fog up". It is quite possible for this to happen with electronic equipment as well. This does not cause any problem as long as you give the condensation enough time to evaporate.
If your hard disk platters are "moist" when you spin them up, you risk destroying the drive, the distance between the heads and platter is miniscule.
The colder the equipment is, the longer it needs to sit to ensure that it comes up to a reasonable temperature before turning it on. I personally try to wait about 3 hours if the device has been in a reasonably cold environment, 0 to 35 degrees F.
Humidity
Much as the case is with temperature, computers prefer moderate humidity as opposed to either extreme. PCs are not as sensitive to humidity issues as they are to temperature, but they are still affected by it.
Obviously, computers and moisture don't mix well; you need to keep your computer dry. That means keeping it away from places or things that can get it wet. This includes the obvious: don't put a PC in the bathroom or kitchen, for example. It also includes the not-so-obvious: watch out for a PC located near a window if it is frequently opened, and be wary of beverages placed near the PC that could spill on it and short it out.
As for the air itself, using a PC in a humid area can be problematic, but only if the climate is extremely humid (Not to worry here in North Carolina)--a few warm days and nights is not a problem, but using the PC in a tropical rainforest is a different matter entirely. Humidity leads to corrosion and possible condensation risk, which can damage equipment. It also makes cooling the PC more difficult (thicker viscosity air when wet). Conversely, air that is too dry can cause problems in two different ways. First, it increases the amount of Static Electricity that is in the room, increasing the chances of a discharge. Second, it can cause faster wear out of some components that dry out over time. This includes some types of capacitors (depending on the dielectric), as well as rubber rollers on laser printers.
Dirty Environments
Computers operate best when they are used in a clean environment, and when they are cleaned regularly. Most offices and homes are clean enough that a PC requires no special treatment other than regular cleaning as part of routine preventive maintenance. Industrial environments however can be murder on PCs.
I remember removing an old failed PC from the tool room of an automotive shop, where the computer that ran a local NC State Inspections Station day after day for years on end. When I opened the PC, the entire interior was coated with carbon exhaust fume dust. Out of interest I opened up the dead hard disk in this machine, and I found the same dust caked inside the hard drive! It had worked its way into the drive and had coated all the platters of the disk with soot. Not too surprising that this drive stopped functioning!
PCs that are going to be used in dirty circumstances should be protected or cleaned more often. One easy preventive measure is to use an air cleaner in the room where the PC is located. Mobile PC Doctor also can build special cases and enclosures for PC hardware designed for industrial environments to safeguard against damage due to dirt. The average PC owner only has to remember to clean their equipment occasionally and no problems will generally result. (Ask us about Filtered and Climate Controlled Case Modifications).
Tobacco and Storage Media Don't Mix
Cigarette smoke is bad for your lungs; it is also bad for your PC, and for very similar reasons. Cigarette smoke and any other air-born contaminants, especially in high concentrations permeate into spinning hard drives and damages computer equipment. The smoke particles are very small and work their way into all sorts of places that they do not belong. Many problems, especially unreliable storage devices, are related to cigarette smoke accumulating on read/write heads and media.
So for me personally, there was one more beneficial side-effect to kicking the habit.
Electromagnetic Interference (EMF)
All electronic devices give off electromagnetic emissions. This is radiation that is a byproduct of electrical or magnetic activity. Unfortunately, the emissions from one device can interfere with other devices, causing potential problems. Interference can lead to data loss, picture quality degradation on monitors, and other problems with your PC, or problems with other devices such as television sets and radios. These are generally categorized as electromagnetic force interference or EMF, problems.
There are actually two different issues here: EMF emissions caused by the PC, and EMF emissions received from outside influence by the PC. PCs generally do not cause very much interference with other devices; they are required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be certified as Class B devices. This certification is used to show that the PC conforms to standards that limit the amount of EMF that a PC can produce. The only catch to this is that you have to keep the cover on the PC. This is one reason why the cover is always made from metal. (Keeping the cover on is also an important part of ensuring proper ventilation).
PCs can be affected by electromagnetic interference (EMF) from other devices, in two major ways. One is direct effects through proximity with other devices; another is electrical interference over the power lines (. Most PCs generally do not have many problems with EMF if the protective metal cover is on, but those that do can cause incredible frustrating to their owners. There are several things that you can do to avoid or at least reduce EMF if you think it is affecting your PCs:
Cooling and Ventilation Care Factors
As mentioned in many other places on this informational, keeping your system cool is very important. A cool system runs more reliably and lasts longer than one that runs hot. Overheating of the internal components can lead to data loss or even damage to your equipment. In recent years, as processors in particular have gotten faster and hotter, the subject of cooling has become more important than ever.
This section takes a look at various issues related to system cooling. This includes referral to areas in the Reference volume where particular cooling mechanisms for different components are discussed in more detail.
Internal Air Flow
The "first line of defense" in cooling the overall system is the fan that is used to provide overall air flow within the system case. This is normally the fan located within the power supply at the back of the case; some newer machines, especially full-tower cases, employ more than one fan, to provide more cooling.
It's important to realize that the fan (or fans) used in the case and/or power supply work by establishing a flow of air through the case. There are two basic designs used. In a standard baby AT style case, the power supply fan blows out the back of the power supply, and in doing so it draws air through the rest of the case and thereby, cools the components inside the case. In the newer ATX style of case and power supply, the power supply fan is on the inside of the case and blows inwards, pushing air throughout the case and drawing it in through the back of the power supply, exactly the opposite. In both cases, for the cooling to work properly, the flow of air must not be interrupted. The better, and stronger, the flow of air, the more cooling it will accomplish. If the flow is not established correctly, at best only some of the components will be cooled.
The flow of air also has an impact on keeping the inside of the case clean. In a standard baby AT case, the air is pushed out the back of the power supply, and replacement air is drawn in through all the small cracks and holes in the case. This tends to cause dust and dirt to be drawn into the case. One reason why the ATX form factor changed the design to blow air into the case instead of out of it, is that this isolates the in-flow of air in the case to one point, making it possible to use filters and other mechanisms to reduce dirt intake into the system unit.
Here are some rules of thumb and tips that you can use to ensure that the flow of air in your system is good, and to increase air flow in your case:
Component Cooling
There are several key components inside the PC that require specific attention when it comes to cooling:
External Ventilation
In order for system cooling to be effective, it is mandatory that there be good air flow not only within the system case but also immediately outside it as well. If the PC is located somewhere where it will not get adequate ventilation, it can overheat no matter how many fans you have on the inside of the box.
Ventilation is closely related to ambient temperature of course, since air flow outside the box is more important in a hot room than a cool one. The best environment for the computer is one with regulated temperature settings, air conditioning, and active ventilation of the entire room. In practice, ventilation isn't a problem as long as you use common sense. The most important part of this is simply making sure that you provide space for the power supply fan to blow, without blocking it off. Sometimes this happens by accident when a PC is jammed against the wall when placed on a desk. Other no-no's are also pretty obvious: don't put papers on top of the ventilating grating on your monitor, and don't enclose the entire PC in a box that will not let air circulate properly (some people try to do this to cut down on noise; it is doable but please make provisions for ventilation if you try it.)
Power Care (UPS)
Many issues with PCs are ultimately related to power problems. Providing a good, reliable power source to your PC is one essential aspect of system care. A UPS, is the only safe way to feed your PC. By running your machine on standard utility power you are risking compromising the integrity of your hardware. A Surge Suppressor is not a UPS. Mobile PC Doctor will only warrantee new PC's running on a UPS. Not running your new computer from a Filtered UPS puts the electronic circuitry in your computer at risk, exposing it to the inevitability of contaminated electricity. Please read Here for UPS info.
For security reasons on older Operating Systems we recommend you install a personal firewall and or firewall software. A personal firewall will assist in hiding your computer from the outside world as well as provide a means for sharing your High Speed Internet connection. Firewall software can help keep hackers out of your computer/network. It protects from attacks such as some common Trojan viruses. Alerts are given by the software to identify suspicious activity and or open ports. (We recommend Using updated Microsoft Windows XP with S.P.2) This Operating System includes a personal Firewall as well as a Pop up Blocker for Internet Explorer.
All cleanup and file removal tools that are needed come with Windows or can be obtained via Microsoft. We do not recommend installing any third party software for this purpose. Technically they have been known to produce virus like activity's, often attempting to run active in the background using valuable system resources. Norton, Symantic and Macafee are Third Party there security center's are inferior to the Microsoft security center provided with SP2 of windows XP.
Remember, the correct method is to go to the control panel then to the add/remove programs icon and remove any unwanted programs from there. Only as a Last Resort use “Delete” to remove a program or applications, missing links/shortcuts can often occur as well as system registry errors often prompting the need for a Service Call.