Ten Useful Preventive Measures for Maintaining your System

One sure way of getting value from your computer equipment is by taking preventive measures. Here is a list of 10 such useful measures. Note that some of these measures can only be carried out a service engineer.

1. Files Backup
Files backups are very important for all types of PC user. By creating a copy of your files, you can restore and continue working in the event of disaster.


2. Clean the Mouse 
Like the keyboard, mouse is susceptible to dust and debris, which are contacted from the mouse pad up to the mouse ball and roller. Dry the mouse thoroughly and use a clean cloth, dampened with ammonia / mentholated spirit.


3. Clean the Floppy Drive 
Clean the drive with a disk cleaner.


4. Check Memory (ONLY TO BE CARRIED OUT BY A SERVICE ENGINEER)
Loose memory can cause serious startup problem for the PC.


5. Check the CPU (ONLY TO BE CARRIED OUT BY A SERVICE ENGINEER)
The CPU is the single largest IC on the motherboard. Examine the CPU to see if it is evenly inserted in its socket/slot. Also check the CPU fan / heat sink for proper cooling.


6. Update the Boot Disk
Your PC should always have a boot disk, which can start the system from a floppy in the event of an emergency system failure. Basically for most Operating systems-Win95/98/2000 etc. use this procedure to create startup disk
*Label a blank formatted floppy diskette and insert it in your floppy Drive
*Click start, Settings, Control Panel
*Double Click Add/Remove Programs icon
*Select Startup Disk Tab
*Click Create Disk
*The utility will remind you to insert your diskette


7. Blow the Printer
Unplug the printer for 10 to 15 minutes allowing the capacitor to completely discharge, blow the printer to remove dust and particles that often cause paper jam.


8. Clean the CD Lens
As the floppy/hard disk drives read/write head contact dust CD lens is not excluded. Use CD lens cleaner


9. Run Scandisk
The Scandisk utility is designed to check your drives for file problems. It also marks any bad sector and copy files to a good sector during the operation
A:\> Scandisk
From Windows:
* Click Start, Run,
* Type Scandisk


10. Update Anti-virus Software
Precisely, new viruses are created nearly every week. For efficient virus protection the Anti-virus software needs to be updated on a regular basis

The Five Most Common Network Problem

1. Cable Problem: Cables that connect different parts of a network can be cut or shorted. A short can happen when the wire conductor comes in contact with another conductive surface, changing the path of the signal. Cable testers can be used to test for many types of cable problems such as:
Cut cable, incorrect cable connections, Cable shorts, Interference level, Connector Problem


2. Connectivity Problem: A connectivity problem with one or more devices in a network can occur after a change is made in configuration or by a malfunction of a connectivity component, such as hub, a router or a Switch.


3. Excessive Network Collisions: These often lead to slow connectivity. The problem can occur as a result of bad network setup/plan, a user transferring a lot of information or jabbering network card.
NB: A jabbering Network card is a network card that is stuck in a transmit mode. This will be evident because the transmit light will remain on constantly, indicating that the Network card is always transmitting.


4, Software Problem: Network problems can often be traced to software configuration such as DNS configuration, WINS configuration, the registry etc.


5. Duplicate IP Addressing: A common problem in many networking environments occurs when two machines try to use the same IP address. This can result in intermittent communications.

View "Full Headers" of Gmail

Normally when you view an e-mail message in your inbox, it shows only the “From” address, the “To”address, the “Subject” line, and the date sent. The “full headers” can show more information aboutwhere the message was sent from and what path it travelled before reaching your inbox.

To View Full Header In Gmail Do The Following,
1. Open a e-mail message which you wish to see the Full header details.
2. In the below screenshot I blurred the Mail Address for Privacy reason.
3. In the upper right corner of the message, to the right of the word “Reply”, is a box with a downward-pointing arrow. And click the “Show original” option.



4. This will open up a new window displaying the full headers of the e-mail message.

What the full headers mean, and how to read them, is a much longer and more complicated answer.

How to clean keyboard

CLEAN KEYBOARD

There are many type of keyboards in the market. Always try to find a durable keyboard as it may fall down the table. First you need to see what type of keyboard you are using If it is a rubber keyboard like the shown below then it can be simply cleaned with a cotton cloth.

Rubber keyboard which is easy to clean

But if you are using a keyboard which has saperate buttons on it then use a bluer to remove the dusts particles from buttons. There are many chemicals available in the market which are used to shine plastic equipments or used to remove bold from plastic bodies. If you do not want to buy any chemical for this purpose then simply surf can be used to clean them but for this you should be very careful that water may not go inside the keyboard. try to use a dust protector like the shown below it will not only stop dust particles but also keep you keyboard as a new one.    

These covers are used to stop dust particle from sticking inside keys

Water proof keyboard

 Few keyboards are water proof and it is very easy to clean them.because if water go inside it will not damage the circuit and there is a hole beneath the keyboard from where all the liquid will be moved outside.

Keyboard which is water proof

What are the Function Keys: F1 - F12 keys

Commonly known as "function keys", F1 through F12 may have a variety of different uses or no use at all. Depending on the installed operating system and the software program currently open will change how each of these keys operate. A program is capable of not only using each of the function keys, but also combining the function keys with the ALT and/or CTRL keys, for example, Microsoft Windows users can press ALT F4 to close the program currently active. 

Below is a short-listing of some of the common functions of the functions keys on computers running Microsoft Windows. As mentioned above not all programs support function keys and/or may perform different tasks then those mentioned below.