By Bill Bateman

When I told one of my coworkers that I was planning to write a series of articles about basic computer upkeep, he laughed and said, "Bill, with Windows 98 all ya gotta do is set the Task Scheduler!" That gave me pause, until I remembered that I discovered another coworker with over 50% of his hard drive full of e-mail dating back over 3 years. Somewhat less disheartened, I checked over my notes from November when we did the Y2k testing on just over 100 of our machines. Here's what I found:

• Almost a third of the machines were still running Windows 3.11, a problem that is finally being remedied. They don't have an automatic option.
• About a third run Windows 95 and they too don't have the Task Scheduler feature.
• Of all of the remaining Windows 98 machines that we have, only one has the Task Scheduler set - mine.

By George, I think I may be on to something here!

Bear in mind that our staff had been offered monthly seminars on how to keep your computer clutter-free. I know that because I was the one conducting the seminars. They all knew how, they just didn't think of doing it. So in the interest of keeping your machine clutter-free and running smoothly, let's take things one step at a time.

First, we use Windows here and I have Netscape. That is the way it is. I love Macs - we just don't have them here. I'll try to include the Mac and Explorer users as time permits. Much of the information will transfer with a bit of hunt-and-peck on your part. I'm not trying to be your one-stop on-line service provider. I do hope to give suggestions to lead you in the right direction. If all else fails, read the directions.

With that in mind, over the next few months I'll be offering suggestions on how to free up disk space, keep things running smoothly, and reduce the load on the tech group who has to do the really hard stuff like building the AOTs. I'll also offer suggestions on how to get the most out of your computer with techniques like web whacking, using your software to its fullest, and generally helping you become a living legend on campus.

Here is the scenario: you're the really inventive computer teacher who has put together a creative lesson using the Internet and it's all ready to present to your class. The bookmarks are set, the LAN School is linked, but then it happens. It doesn't matter if you are on the school's system running a T-1 supporting 200 users or sitting in your room with the 56k modem you brought from home. Zap. "It" is whenever the Internet goes down. And when the Net goes down for whatever reason, you simply aren't going to present that really neat Internet-based lesson. So you now have both an opportunity and a problem. The problem is what you're going to present to the class. We'll talk more about how to get around that in a future column.

The opportunity is what I'd like to discuss this time. What is this opportunity? Your computer, which was to have been in operation all morning, is now out of the picture. But it isn't broken; the Net is just down. So this becomes an excellent time for you to do some basic housecleaning that will help keep your machine running smoothly. For those of you who are on a network and not running from a stand-alone modem in your room, I always begin with the request to check with your site's Tech department before you begin thrashing about with settings. If you've done that, or if your site is like most schools and you don't have anyone to ask, use that down time.

Let's perform the Scan Disk procedure. I'll cover the steps for 3.1 in a minute. But first, let's check out Windows 95 and 98 by selecting Programs, then Accessories, and then System Tools. Scan Disk will ask you to pick from a number of settings. First select the main drive, which for me is the "C" drive. I have chosen to do the Standard test at least once a month. The other choice, Surface Scan, takes a lot longer and I do that once every six months at the most. There is a box to check if you want to "automatically fix errors". I have it active because this is also the test that the machine runs should it be incorrectly shut down, so I want the problem corrected without delay. Now, let's work on the advanced menu.

You'll see six categories, each with several choices. For me, the following settings work best.

• Under the Display Summary choices I have selected "Only if errors are found".
• I do not have a Log kept, as it simply takes up space.
• Cross-linked files are deleted. I don't want to be saving and renaming things that are beginning to get tangled. Remember how your shoelaces became knotted when you were small? The more you tugged, the harder the knot became? Same idea here.
• I choose to "free lost fragments" for the very same reason.
• Under Check Files I choose "invalid names" for the first time, then rotate each time I do it with the other two choices.
• Check the host drive first is always checked on my machine. I do not use the MS-DOS item, but I am told that if you work in DOS a lot, that choice is recommended.

Now that you've made your selections, hit OK and then SCAN on the main panel. It is a really good idea to have everything else closed. You shouldn't be playing a CD while you Scan. Watch the icons or take attendance while it works.

For those with 3.1, it is a simple case of exiting Windows and going to the DOS mode. At the system prompt, which for me is the c:\, simply type "scandisk". It will ask you the same questions, but you must use the appropriate key to answer. I make the same choices. I seldom perform the "SCAN" feature, because of the time it takes. On older machines, however, it can be a good indicator of trouble ahead if you keep finding more and more corrupted sections - food for thought if you have an older system. (Some older DOS machines don't have this feature, by the way. If yours does, you need to follow along to make the choices as it runs instead of setting them in advance. Normally it takes about five minutes.)

For any of the systems, the Scan can take up to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the hard drive and number of errors found. The first time you perform this type of maintenance may take extra time because of the need to change the settings to fit your site requirements and it being the first time the trash has been taken out. (Remember having to clean our your dorm room the first time? Same idea here. It can be a BIG job the first time you do it, but it gets easier as you begin keeping it up.)

So after you select the initial settings and clean out your first mess, this should take you about five minutes at the most. I do it once a month.

Next time, we'll talk about how (and when) to do a "defrag," how to set Task Scheduler (if you have it), and begin exploring ways to salvage that lesson you had ready. Until then, tidy up a bit?

Email: Bill Bateman