With experience you can develop the skills needed to clean and maintain your computer, and diagnose and resolve basic problems that may occur when using your pc

 Defragging your computer helps to speed it up by placing files together at the beginning of your drive so that it works more efficiently.  Starting your disk defragger:  Click Start  All Programs  Accessories  System Tools  Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragging: When the Defrag window is open click on the Hard Drive (C:) Then click Defragment These areas show the defragging process You will get a message when finished: Defragmentation is complete for (C:) just click Close.

 For the level 1 assessment you will be required to create a backup of a file – there is a backup tool which can be used but for level 1 we’ll keep it simple:  Select the file you wish to backup  Right-click and select Create Shortcut  A shortcut file is now added to the folder  Right-click on the shortcut and choose Rename  Name the file Backup of (name of file)  Press Enter

 Some programs have their own uninstall program that install with the group:  To uninstall using this method just click on the Uninstall option and follow any instructions

 Click Start then Control Panel  Double-click on Add or Remove Programs  Select the program you want to remove from the list  Click the Change/Remove button

Sometimes Windows works fine but and individual software program freezes. Fortunately Windows XP, Vista and 7 are extremely safe environments – when an individual application crashes or freezes, it seldom messes up your entire system. You can use a utility called Windows Task Manager to close the problem application without affecting other Windows programs.

 Press Ctrl + Alt + Del  This Dialog box will appear  If your program is listed as Not Responding  Click on the program and select End Task – this will stop the program running  You may then be able to restart the program, or if it still doesn’t work you may have to Restart the computer.

 A driver is a piece of software that allows you to use your hardware – such as scanner, printer, graphics cards etc.  One of the most common problems with PCs are outdated drivers or drivers that won’t work with your current operating system  One way around this is to make sure that you have the latest Windows Update installed on your machine. Although this does not provide drivers for everything it is a good place to start.

 If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 then Window s Update will be listed in Programs you - just click on it for Update to check if any updates are needed and then it will prompt you to install them.  On Windows XP you can set up Automatic Updating by opening the Control Panel and selecting Automatic Updates – this will set the computer to check and install updates automatically.

 If you can’t find Windows Update it can also be accessed through the Internet:   Click on Windows Update  Follow the instructions to install the latest update for your operating system.

 Stay calm and be patient!  Take your time and keep a clear head.  Read the screen  when a problem occurs, a message will usually appear on screen  make a note if necessary to ask someone more knowledgeable.  Check for the obvious  The problem may be a loose connection or cable.  Ensure all cables are securely attached and that the device is turned on.

 Quit all programs and restart the computer  This will clear everything out of the computer’s memory  This is a pretty good solution for most issues.