... Five Important Steps ...

1. UPDATE YOUR VIRUS DEFINITIONS

You'd be surprised at the number of people who have NEVER updated their virus definitions.

Between 10 and 15 new viruses appear every day. But before you panic, though, there are two things to keep in mind:

1. Even though it sounds like by now there are a squillion viruses out there, there are really only 250 or so viruses being passed from computer to computer. The rest exist only in the laboratories of evil virus scientists.
2. Most viruses are easy to detect and neutralize before they do any damage, but only if you have an antivirus program using the latest virus definitions. Virus definitions help your antivirus program both recognize and (hopefully) destroy known viruses. What happens if you don't have the latest virus definitions? Well, your antivirus program may not be able to detect some of the newer viruses floating around the internet, putting your computer and files in danger.

Fortunately, updating your virus definitions is a snap. How do you do it? That depends on the antivirus program you use. Norton Antivirus has a "Live Update" button built into it; click on the button, and Norton automatically downloads and installs the latest virus definitions from Net. McAfee VirusScan has a similar update function.

If you are unsure of how to update your virus definitions, visit the website of your antivirus software manufacturer and look for their "download," "update," or "technical support" section.

2. RUN WINDOWS' UPDATE

Windows is aptly named because it is full of holes. There are several, inadvertent 'open doors' (or 'security holes') in the Windows operating system that *COULD* conceivably make your computer vulnerable to outside attack. In specific, a mean-spirited hacker *COULD* 'walk through' one of these open doors on your Windows PC and read any file on your computer, delete specific files or programs, or even completely erase your hard drive.

When the folks at Microsoft discover a security hole, they release a software patch to close it. Without the patch, and there are MANY, your computer may be open to outside attack.

Fortunately, like updating your virus definitions, downloading these patches couldn't be simpler. Built into every Windows 98 PC and into every version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer since version 4.0 is something called "Windows Update." Windows Update is an easy-to-use tool that helps you ensure that your PC is running the absolute latest Microsoft software patches and drivers.

Here is how to use Windows Update to download all of the security patches Microsoft has released since your PC was made:

1. Connect (or logon) to the Internet.

2. If you have Windows 98, launch Windows Update by going to Start , Settings , Windows Update. You can also launch Windows Update by going to Tools, Windows Update in Internet Explorer.

3. On the top left-hand side of the Windows Update page, click on the "Product Updates" link (it is the one with the hand and the red asterisk).

4. A pop-up window will appear, telling you to wait while your computer DOESN'T send any information to Microsoft (well, that's what it says.).

5. Eventually, you'll see a page that says "Select Software." When Microsoft releases an essential update or patch to close a security hole in Windows, they put it in this page's "Critical Updates" section. Select (or click on) EVERYTHING in the "Critical Updates" section -- you need *ALL* of the critical updates -- and then click on the big, gray "Download" arrow in the top right hand corner of the page.

6. Follow the on-screen prompts and that's it.

Expect to see a mess of critical updates the first time you run Windows Update. After that, though, you probably won't see more than one or two Critical Updates a month.

By the way, if Windows Update doesn't work for you, you can download *most* of Microsoft's Win98 critical updates at their website

3. RUN SCANDISK

ScanDisk is a built-in tool from Microsoft that scans and, in most cases, repairs errors on your hard drive. These errors usually occur when your computer crashes and has to be restarted.

The technical explanation is that Your files are stored on your hard drive in data groups called "clusters", sometimes these clusters can become "cross linked" with other clusters belonging to other files, or they can simply become "lost" from the rest of its fellow clusters.

When you run scan disk the utility saves the "lost" file fragments into new files that you can view called "check" files (*.chk). It also repairs cross-linked clusters by making a copy and pairing it to two separate families (the original and the cross linked one).

You will find PC Help's … The Scan Disk and Defrag Utilities … excellent for additional information. The bottom line is that ScanDisk will make your computer a little happier and a heck of a lot more stable.

To run Scan Disk, just go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk. Or right-click your C-drive icon, Programs, Tools, Check Now.

4. RUN DEFRAG

ScanDisk stabilizes your computer. A disk defragmenter speeds up your computer. According to friends at … WhatIs.com … (the best technical glossary on the internet, and one of my top 21 web resources), "When a file is too large to store in a single location on a hard disk, it is stored on the disk in discontiguous (not adjacent) parts or fragments. This fragmentation is 'invisible' to the user; however. The locations of the fragments are kept track of by the system. Over time, disk access time can be slowed by fragmentation since each fragmented file is likely to require multiple drive head repositionings and accesses. (There's nothing you can do to prevent fragmentation, by the way.)"

A disk defragmenter is a utility that rearranges your fragmented files and the free space on your computer so that files are stored in contiguous units and free space is consolidated in one contiguous block. This also improves access time to files that are now contiguous.

To run Window's built-in Disk Defragmenter program, go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. Or right-click your C-drive icon, Programs, Tools, Defragment Now.

5. BACKUP YOUR DATA

Here is a frightening thought: imagine what would happen if your computer just up and stopped working. All of your programs, all of your emails, all of the pictures and files you have downloaded from the internet ... gone. How would you react? Heck, how would you SURVIVE?

I ask these questions because computer hard drives crash all the time. I know; it happens to me a few times a week.

In the world of computing, you either have a disaster recovery plan or you don't. Fortunately, backing up your critical data is no harder than downloading new virus definitions or running a disk defragmenter.

The article reviews the hardware, software, and media you can use to back up your computer. It even offers a checklist of the essential files you need to backup.

So, that's it. Update your virus definitions, run Windows Update (or a Mac equivalent), run ScanDisk, run a disk defragmenter, and backup your data. Do these five things in order ... each and every week ... and both you and your computer will be a heck of a lot happier.