BSBCMN205A Use Business Technology

Session 7

1

Maintain Technology - 2

Session Outcome From this session students will learn how to

maintain a computer system and the back up procedures.

2

How do you treat your car?You probably do at least the following:

Oil changes, air filter changes, antifreeze fills etc.

Why not treat your computer the same way? After all, it is an appliance (and costs as much as a used car).

3

4

The maintenance process is an on-going activity, one that lasts the lifetime of the system.

Monitoring and necessary adjustments continue so that the computer produces expected results.

In many computer installations a very high percentage of personnel and effort is dedicated to maintenance.

5

Computer systems are constantly changing.

Hardware upgrades occur continuously and commercial software tools may change every year.

Users change jobs. Errors may exist in the system. All of these actions mean the system needs to be modified.

Maintenance ctd.

Maintenance

The job of overseeing and making these modifications is called maintenance

6

7

Maintenance issues with computers may also

include:-

• creating more space on the hard disk

· reviewing programs

· deleting unwanted files

· cleaning dust from internal and external surfaces

continued· backing up files before major

maintenance · checking hard drive for errors · defragmenting the hard disk · using up to date anti-virus programs.

8

Your computer needs two parts to work correctly:

9

Hardware Software

Maintenance CategoriesSoftware maintenance

BackupDisk errors and Defragmentation Virus checks

Hardware maintenanceClean the environmentClean the outsideClean the insides

10

Who Made It?IBM invented the modern PC design, but they

recently sold that business to a Chinese company.

This should not be a big surprise.

Often the only American thing in a computer is the name on the cardboard box it came in. Apple assembles systems in Shanghai and ships them overnight to the US.

11

Hard DisksAnother form of auxiliary storage is a hard

disk. A hard disk consists of one or more rigid metal plates coated with a metal oxide material that allows data to be magnetically recorded on the surface of the platters.

The hard disk platters spin at a high rate of speed, typically 5400 to 7200 revolutions per minute (RPM).

Storage capacities of hard disks for personal computers range from 10 GB to 120 GB (one billion bytes are called a gigabyte).

12

Hard DiskThe disk’s storage locations are divided into pie-

shaped sections called sectors.A sectors is capable of holding 512 bytes of data.A typical Hard disk stores data on both sides and

has 200 tracks on each side with 18 sectors per track. Sectors

13

»Tracks

»Sectors

How Does the Computer Store Information on Your Hard Drive?your computer writes to available

sectors on the hard driveas you work, files get moved around and

parts of the file may get separated into different sectors

your computer remembers where everything is stored (in the FAT, File Allocation Table) but has to jump around to find it

14

Get Rid of Unnecessary Filesdelete files and subdirectories which have

no valueif you’re not sure, open up the files and

view them firstdelete programs

which you don’t usefor which you have a newer version which are past their demo time limit

15

Unnecessary Files, continued...you'll probably be able to regain 10% to

20% of your disk space even if you're conservative with your deletes

just grit your teeth and do itif you’re afraid that you’ll delete a file

you’ll need, back up those parts of your hard drive that are important to you

16

Activity 1 Students have to empty the disk cache in the

internet explorer and reduce the disk space in Windows OS

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

17

Recycle BinEvery time you delete a file under

Windows 95/98/XP/Vista you actually copy it into the Recycle Bin where it stays until you decide to empty it

In order to delete the files from the Recycle Bin, go into the Recycle Bin and highlight the files you are absolutely sure you want to get rid of and hit the Delete key

18

Uninstal(ler)Programswhen you uninstall a program using Start |

Settings | Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs, not all the bits and pieces get removed

uninstaller programs get rid of the file detritus which is not picked up by Add/Remove Programs

19

Heat: Your computer’s worst enemy As computer get faster, their components get hotter.

Some hard drives and processors produce enough heat to burn you if you were to touch them. And that much heat is just as bad for a computer as it is for you.

Computers use fans to cool their components. These fans draw in the cooler outside air and circulate it throughout the case. But along with the cooler air comes dust. Dust is notorious for getting into the fan’s ball bearings, and once the dust mixes with the lubricants it forms a near solid and causes the fan to stop spinning.

20

Heat: Your computer’s worst enemy

Once the fan stops spinning your computer’s components begin to over-heat. Eventually your computer will lock up as it reaches a temperature that is beyond its operating range, and if it is not shut down and continues to heat permanent damage will be done to your hardware. The computer’s hard disk and processor are the components that are most vulnerable to over-heating.

21

To protect your computer from over-heating:

Periodically vacuum or blow out your desktop computer

Periodically clean any dust filters or install them if none exist

Whenever possible place your computer in a cool room

Set your computer’s hard drive to turn off after a specified period of inactivity

Turn off your computer, or set it to go to stand-by mode when it is not in use

22

Activity 2 Students look at settings in their computer to

reduce over-heatinghttp://www.computing.net/answers/cpus/my-pc-is-overheating/14909.html

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/142

23

Cleaning Your Computer

Keep the room that your computer is in clean because any dirt and dust that accumulates in the room will eventually make its way inside your computer.

Desktops: Unplug your computer and remove the side panel, then use a can of compressed air to blow out your computer. A small vacuum will also work for this. Also blow out your keyboard and any other visible dust.

24

Cleaning Your Computer

Laptops: Locate the air vents on your laptop, these are generally on the side towards the rear, and use a can of compressed air to blow out the inside of your laptop. You can also blow out the keyboard

To clean your monitor or LCD flat panel, turn it off, then use a soft damp cloth to wipe it clean (special CRT or LCD cleaners are also available), then use another soft dry cloth to dry the screen. Turn it back on and you’re done.

25

26

Cleaning Your Computer

Zipping

Zipping is compressing just one directory, file, or program at a time

27

File Compression: Archivers and Zippers

PkZip/PkUnzipWinZipAutoZip 98

28

Defragment Your Hard Drive(s)As your hard disk “ages”, the spaces available

for files become smaller and more scatteredDisk access slows down as files become

fragmentedDefragmentation speeds disk access and

improves chances of recovering files

29

Storing Files, continued...Running a disk maintenance program like

Defrag will reorganize the drive into unbroken (continuous) files

You should defrag your hard drive regularly or any time that you remove programs or move a lot of files

30

Defragment Your Hard Drivea highly defragmented disk runs very slowly

because your files are scattered all over the hard drive

you should have thirty megabytes of free space to run a defragmenter successfully

warning: defraging a 1GB hard drive could take >3 hours

31

Defragmenting SoftwareMicrosoft Defragmenter (comes with

Windows)System Agent

32

Defragmenter, continued...If you don’t need to defragment, the program

will say so and you can quitNote: you can continue to use your computer

while the disk is being defragmented, but your computer will run more slowly

you can pause the defragmenting by clicking on pause.

33

Important Terms You Need To know IDE - Imbedded Drive Electronics; One type of

hard drive specification for IBM PC and compatible computers (<504MB)

BIOS - the computer's BIOS tells the computer how to communicate with the various devices that may be attached to it, including the hard drive

CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A small section of RAM used to hold certain hardware configuration parameters in IBM and compatible computers.

34

What methods can you use to monitor?

Software Hardware

35

36

Although a hard disk is an extremely reliable device, a hard disk is subject to electromechanical failure. With any method of data storage, a backup system (a way of storing data in more than one place to protect it from damage and loss) - is vital.

The types of backup options available are:-

• Diskettes (small hard drives - 10mb - 20mb)

• Tape backup (onto cassettes of cartridges)

37

A backup policy is a must for every organisation that will suffer financially if something should happen to its data.

The backup policy should state the person responsible for performing the backup. The backup period, recycle time, and number of

generations that are to be maintained. Lastly it should state the storage location.

38

•You are to write a maintenance policy for your users.

•Include when, how often and by what methods they are to conduct maintenance checks.

• Take into account day to day use of the systems as well as backup procedures.