Jason Trenary is the Electronic Music Technologist for the University of South Carolina School of Music. He is the network administrator the School of Music Macintosh computer network, and has ten years experience with network maintenance and administration. He is the author of several on-line tutorials and published a work which focused on the teaching methods of computer software. Jason trenary teaches Electronic Music and Digital Recording at the University of South Carolina.
Jason Trenary
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
JTrenary@mozart.sc.edu
803.777.5360
You are working to finish a project that has your complete dedication. You have completed all forethought and research, and all that remains is to sit at the beloved computer and create the final document that represents the culmination of all of your hard work. While attempting to open the necessary application, the computer provides an error message and you can't find a translation to even know what it means. After trying several procedures to revive the computer, you give up and press the restart keys. A few minutes later after the computer returns to its working state, you open the necessary application and begin your work. Determined not to let the computer steal your enthusiasm, you put aside the failure and return your focus to the task at hand. After a short period of time, the possibility of computer failure has escaped your mind and you are deeply entranced by your work. Thoughts and ideas are swiftly executed with great ease, and the computer is cooperating. "This is wonderful, this is how computers were meant to be." Then "boom," it happens again. Another erroneous message appears on the screen, and you can't even get to your work. Your mind races, "Did I save?" No, you never remember to save when you are deeply enthralled in your work. After realizing that the last hour of work is now gone, evil thoughts enter your mind of what you might do to this traitorous beast. At this point, there is no hope of continuing. Your emotions have taken over, and productivity has come to a grinding halt.
Does this sound familiar? If you have worked with computers for any length of time, then something like this has probably crossed your path. There is great news for the weary. It doesn't have to be this way. It is possible to prevent such a travesty though some computer errors are inevitable. If you would like to keep your computer in optimal running condition, then you need to take care of it. Many are guilty of spending thousands on purchasing a computer, but never maintaining it. It would be the same as buying a car, and never changing the oil or rotating the tires. There are some simple items that, when performed regularly, can help keep your computer in optimal running condition.
Though many parts of a computer are off limits to anyone other than an authorized service dealer, the one that can be serviced by the user is the hard drive. The hard drive is the heart of any computer. Items such as RAM and processors are related to the function and speed of the computer, but without a hard drive they are useless in today's world. The hard drive should be treated with extra respect since it is responsible for storing all of your files and applications. As information is written to and deleted from the hard drive, it begins to wear out. Certain areas can wear out to the point that if a file is written over that area, the file can no longer be read. This can lead to many serious problems, but is easily prevented. There are several programs available that will fix hard drive problems, but the most popular is Norton Utilities. This is not to be confused with any virus protection software or software that only de-fragments. Norton Utilities and other similar programs analyze your hard drive for the purpose of finding and fixing any hard drive problem. The best part is that you don't have to know anything special to run Norton Utilities. It has an intuitive interface that allows the user to easily search and repair serious problems that might have developed. Running Disk Doctor from Norton Utilities once a month is not too often. Many problems can surface over the period of a month of regular use, but Disk Doctor will take care of them. The important item to remember when regularly using Norton Utilities is to always have the latest version available. This can be found on-line at www.symantec.com.
In addition to running Disk Doctor, users should also de-fragment their hard drive. There are many utilities that "de-frag," and Norton Utilities includes an item called "Speed Disk." The advantages of running such an application include the recovery of additional disk space and a quicker response time when retrieving and saving files. It is a good idea to de-fragment your hard drive every three months.
An item that is often overlooked is dust build-up. Have you ever seen inside of a computer that has been running for three years and never cleaned? Needless to say, if you are allergic to dust mites, this is not the place for you. Most don't know what is needed to clean out the inside of a computer because they are afraid of damaging the circuitry. This is a justified fear, but the only thing that it takes to clean out the dust is compressed air. However, do not, and I mean don't ever, under any circumstance, use compressed air on the inside of a computer until it has been unplugged from the wall for at least an hour. Watching cold compressed air touch the hot inner parts of a computer is not a pretty sight when the motherboard starts to crack and other delicate chips do likewise. Make sure that the inside has had plenty of time to cool down before cleaning with compressed air. Obviously, some people are rather frightened by the idea of even looking inside their computer. Be assured, however, that computers exists just the same whether the outside cover is on or off. Just don't ever touch an inside part of a computer unless you know how to discharge static electricity that might be stored in your body. Since you don't have to touch any inside parts to clean out the dust, discharging static electricity will not be discussed. Compressed air, found at most hardware stores, comes in a spray can and is very simple to use. The hardest part will probably be trying to figure out how to remove the cover from the computer. Please consult your manual in order to find this procedure. Once the cover is removed, use the compressed air to blow out any visible dust.
The last item of attention is software updates. Something that tends to be forgotten is humans create computers and computer software. We aren't perfect and neither are the products that we create. It is an extremely complex task for different companies to constantly keep all of their products in-sync with each other. When a new operating system is released, many software updates are soon to follow. When the software updates are installed, it is soon found out that an additional update is needed. This cycle will never end and it is up to the individual user to insure that all of the software is the correct version and compatible with the current computer configuration. This task was a complete nightmare until the birth of the World Wide Web. Now, updates can be posted at anytime for users to download and use on their computers.
The software updates needed can easily be broken down into two categories, system updates and everything else. System updates should be retrieved from the web site of the respective creator of the type of system used. The two most popular platforms are Windows and Macintosh, and their web sites are www.microsoft.com and www.apple.com. Both of these sights are very large and have a lot of information including technical tips and updates.
Developers are constantly working out problems that have been found in their software. If you don't download and use their updates, then the problems that they worked hard to fix will remain on your computer. Some updates will only fix minor bugs, but others are essential for your computer to run correctly. Something to remember when downloading is that you should never automatically install any update that you find. Always read the text files that accompany the update. They are usually entitled "Read Me" or something else obvious to get your attention. Don't ignore these documents. They will always have critical information that you need to know before installing the respective software. If this has not yet convinced you to seek, find, and use the updates for your system software, then maybe one more fact will do the trick. Functional updates are always free. Charges only apply to software updates that increase in productivity or functionality. Updates that are required for your system to run correctly will not cost anything.
System updates are by far the most important to pursue. All software, however, has the potential of needing critical updates to make them compatible with your system software or to fix reported bugs. There are several ways to keep up with the latest versions of software, but don't do work that someone else has already done. The web site, www.versiontracker.com keeps up with all of the latest updates for most of the software that is available for the Macintosh. There are similar sights for PC software, but none seem to be as comprehensive as "Version Tracker" is for the Macintosh. Two that are available for PC software are www.zdnet.com and www.winfiles.com. Visit these sights to find the latest version information on any piece of software that you use on your computer. If you can't find it here, use a WWW search engine to find the Web site of the company who created your software. Finding and using the latest updates will ensure that the computer has the best chance possible of running software correctly. Once again, always read the "Read Me" files to learn about the update before installing it on your computer.
A few hours of work every few months will help your computer remain in the best possible condition. The following is a list summarizing the procedures and the frequency at which you should apply them. Happy Computing!
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