I am going to produce a guide on how to update a PC that has hardly any or no programs installed some are not working at all. This is for the charity ‘Techno for Tanzania’ which is run by a group of local Tanzanian businessmen there job is to recycle aging and discarded computer systems so that children in there home country can use them. There is also spare components and devices such as power supplies, disk drivers, graphics cards and internal memory. Some new system components have also been donated by local computer companies. I will produce some notes in terms of repairing, checking and upgrading the systems. I will also show photos of me doing wiring and taking apart and rebuilding a computer.
Effects of my virtual pc
I have used these programmes and software because in my opinion these systems are the ones that will best benefit the Tanzanian children. I installed virus protection software and firewall to obviously stop viruses in the computer I would recommend to have virus protection in every computer but especially in the Tanzanian computers because I would guess that the resources and the knowledge about computers wouldn’t be good enough to fix a virus in a small Tanzanian village.
I also cleaned up the hard drive. Then installed internet explorer so there was access to the internet, and added windows media player so they could access videos etc. Then I added printer, cleaned up the computer and added a network card so you can access the internet wirelessly.
Explanation of firewalls and anti virus software
Firewalls build a protective barrier around computers that are connected to a network, so that only authorised programs can access data on a particular workstation.The user can control exactly which software is allowed to pass data in and out of the system for example, automatic updates might be allowed for some installed software. Some offer virus protection as part of the package.
So firewalls are used to protect the computers on a network. The purpose of a firewall is to block unwanted traffic from entering a network. When traffic has to enter to reach servers such as email two or more firewalls can be installed to offer zones of security
How to check the firewall
1) With windows xp you open the control panel and find the firewall icon as shown below
2) Select the exceptions tab and you will see a list of automatically configured exceptions.
3) Select the Add Port option and create a port to open.
Anti virus software (AVG) can be attacked by viruses witch can be caught from emails and internet access. Almost as soon as the virus makers bring out a new virus there is the new software being made to cope with it. Anti-virus software checks for intruders it attempts to stop the viruses by tracing the virus signature. This protects the computer from almost all the viruses. So running a computer without anti-virus software is not a good idea because this could cause your computer no end of problems. The AVG software will
· Update its anti virus definitions daily
· Run a comprehensive scan of your entire system on demand.
· Check all running programs
· Check all emails, incoming and outgoing
· check for ‘script’ attacks from websites
Routine computer maintenance
Maintenance is a very important part of running a computer system. Its aim is to prevent problems from happening and to save time when diagnosing and fixing faults. It should also extend the life and well being of the computer and increase the speed. By defragging it sorts out all the files in the correct order as files can be become mixed up. For example a programs files can be in different locations in the hard drive because they have been mixed up. Defragging the hard drive will put the files for the program all together so the computer doesn’t have to spend time looking through the whole of the hard drive looking for the correct files in order to run the programme this will improve the speed of the computer.
Summary
Overall I am very pleased I have produced an internet ready Pc that has all the basic software to make a good PC.
Utility software
Utility software is used to improve the computers state. Utility software is found on most operating systems such as windows xp. Some utility software is very important such as anti-virus programs the one I have used is AVG. And deframentation is also an important utility software. Below I have also added more utilities that can be useful.
Defragment
Defragmentation is a process that people carry out to reduce the amount of fragmentation in their files. This works be putting the correct files in the right order this is to provide more space free space for your computer. And also helps the computer to go faster because it can find the files needed easier. To access this tool on windows xp do the following-
Programs
Accessories
System tools
Disk defragmentation.
AVG (anti-virus software)
Is utility software that helps fight viruses attacking your computer.It protects your computer from almost all viruses.
Firewall
The purpose of a firewall is to block unwanted traffic from entering a network. Firewalls build a protective barrier around computers that are connected to a network, so that only authorised programs can access data on a particular workstation.
Disk clean-up
This works by scanning files and finding files that are unnecessary to computer operations and take up a large amount of space. The disk cleanup tools helps free up space on the hard disk by searching for files that you can choose to delete. These sorts of things can free up space on your hard drive
· Remove installed programs that are no longer in use
· Empty recycle bin
· Remove windows temporary files
· Remove temporary internet files.
Anti-spyware
Spyware is a type of software that aims to steal information such as passwords and financial details. Anti-spyware software detects if you have any spyware on your computer it deletes it to protect your computer from hackers.
Anti-adware software detects if you have any of unwanted rubbish on your computer. Adware might be hard to find in your computer, but the software will scan to find it and delete it. Below are things adware can do-
Desktop pop-up ads
Worthless icons on your desktop
Blue screen
