Academic Technologies
Self Help: keeping your computer up to date
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Academic Technologies |
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Many users have asked for guidelines about routine maintenance of their Barnard office computers. Here are some suggestions:
Dell computers
Check this site to be sure you have the latest version of this software. From time to time, Symantec releases a new "engine" which needs to be installed. This will not happen automatically through the Live Update feature. As of December 2007, there is a new version of Symantec AntiVirus: Version 11 for Windows.
Additional spyware software. You should use both programs, first one and then the other. They will fix different problems.:
Ad-aware Designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, selected traditional Trojans, Browser hijackers. Run this once a month.
SpyBot Searches your hard drive for so-called spy- or adbots; that is, little modules that are responsible for the ads many programs display. Run this once a month.
Run Windows update.
NOTE: Pest Patrol has been discontinued. If this is installed on your computer, it may ask you to run updates. This program should be uninstalled from the Control Panel. Please call the Help Desk if you need assistance.
Apple computers
Check this site to be sure you have the latest version of this software. From time to time, Symantec releases a new "engine" which needs to be installed. This will not happen automatically through the Live Update feature. As of December 2007, there is a new version of Symantec AntiVirus: Version 10 for Macintosh.
Everyone
Back up your files You should back up important files every week at a minimum. Copy these files to: your personal account on Artemis, a USB key, a CD or DVD. Faculty members can also store files in their personal folders inside CourseWorks. If the hard drive on your computer crashes, we may not be able to recover your important files.
Empty your cache files and temporary files.
last update 12/12/07