In This Issue:

• Message from the CEO
• Corporate News
• Operations
• Log Harvesting
• Forestry & Engineering
• Environmental Management
• Manufacturing
• Safety
• Information Systems
• Calendar

Download PDF version

Adobe Acrobat Reader is
required to view PDF files.

• News Top

By George Rose, IT ManagerInformation Systems

SPRING CLEANING FOR YOUR COMPUTER

When spring finally arrives most of your homes will receive a good cleaning, so why shouldn't your computer get a spring cleaning as well? Here are a few things you can do to give your computer a fresh start for the coming summer,

1. Download the latest security updates. Microsoft is constantly releasing patches to fix various security holes that are discovered over time. A lot of malicious programs take advantage of these holes. Even if you have your computer configured to automatically download and install updates it is a good idea to manually check for updates every now and then to confirm that they are actually taking place and installing without errors.
2. Check for updates for your virus software and scan for viruses. Again, even if you have your virus software set to automatically update, which you should, it is a good idea to update manually during your spring cleaning to ensure that the update function is working correctly. Also run a manual scan ensuring that it configured for a full scan including all files and file types and all folders.
3. Check for updates for your anti spyware software and scan for spyware. If you are running separate antivirus and anti spyware software, follow the same instructions as in step 2. If your antivirus software includes spyware protection, which is becoming more and more common, then you can skip this step.
4. Uninstall any programs you don’t use. Go to your Add/Remove programs and remove any software you need. Not only will this help free up disk space, many programs have small applications running in the background that can slow down your computer. Most programs also add multiple entries in the registry (see step 5) that can also slow your machine down.
5. Clean your registry. As you install and remove programs, there are frequently pieces left behind in the registry. A good registry cleaner will not only remove these, but also optimize it for better performance and eliminate errors that occur when software does not remove itself properly.
6. Defrag. Unlike your office computer, which rarely has software installed and uninstalled, with most home computers this is happening constantly. This causes programs and files on the hard drive to become fragmented throughout the drive. Running a defrag ensures that your programs and files information are stored in order and physically next to each other on the hard disk. This will increase performance particularity when opening an application or loading a large document.

So get cleaning!