PC maintenance and security

As part of CEP 810, we are learning about PC maintenance and security.  We were to choose 3 tutorials to view and then reflect upon them. 

The first tutorial I chose to view was “Protecting Your Family Online”.  It taught how to view and clear browser history.  It also showed how to change settings in Firefox and Explorer to protect children against viewing inappropriate material.   I didn’t even realize it was simple to view browser history.  I was surprised to realize that computers save ‘temporary internet files’ and they should periodically be deleted.  I also did not know that there are different reasons for keeping or deleting cookies.  I was happy to learn that Google has options for search preferences, ranging from strict to moderate to none for restricting inappropriate content.  I was also happy to find out that Explorer has a content advisor available that allows users to set levels between 0 and 4 to restrict content.  It even allows users to create lists of always and never approved sites. 

The next tutorial I viewed was “Intrusion Detection and Prevention”.  This tutorial taught about some programs that help catch problems with your PC that anti-virus and anti-spyware software won’t always find.  I was surprised that anti-virus and ant-spyware software do not catch everything.  I was interested to learn that Intrusion Detection Software (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Software (IPS) look for computer problems in a different way- by tracking your computer’s behavior.  The look for things like changes in startup programs, launches of new programs, stopping key programs, and browser home page changes.  Luckily, there are some free programs available for download, such as WinPatrol 10.

The third tutorial I looked at was “Clean-up and Speed-up Your PC”.  Generally, when my computer is going slow, I do two things- restart, and run my virus scans.  Now I have a lot more options and better solutions.  I learned that one thing I can do is to remove unwanted and unnecessary programs by going to “add or remove programs” on my control panel.  I can remove duplicates, demos, old versions of programs, and similar versions of programs I have.  I can also use the disc cleanup to free space on my computer to keep things moving more smoothly.  There is also a downloadable program called Windows Cleanup! That will help me clean my computer.  Using Microsoft Config is another way to clean my computer by selecting or deselecting boxes that do not need to start up each time I start my PC.  If I am no t sure about which boxes to check, there is a website called Startup Programs and Executables Listing that I can check on.  I was surprised at how many different ways there were to speed up my computer, and at how fast and simple they are to use!