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Getting the Most Out of Your Laptop/Tablet: February 14, 2007

Posted by admin in : February 2007 Professional Development, Optimizing , trackback

Defragmenting the HD:
On a frequently used hard drive, the files become broken up into non-contiguous chunks as they are created, modified and deleted. This slows the drive down. The defrag utility reassembles the files.

  1. Right-click on My Computer and choose manage
  2. Click Disk Defragmenter in the left column, which will load the defragmenter in the main part of the window
  3. Make sure the C: drive is selected in the list at the top. then click the analyze button
  4. If the drive requires defragmentation, it will prompt you do start the process

Running a chkdsk on the HD:
If a drive is heavily fragmented, chances are it has some file system corruption also. Running chkdsk repairs the corruption.

  1. Open My Computer, then right click on the C: drive and select Properties
  2. Click the Tools tab, and then click Check For Errors
  3. Check both checkboxes, and click Start
  4. You will be asked if the check should be done at the next restart. Click Yes, then restart the computer

Power Management:
Depending on you power source (i.e. battery of AC) and your needs, you may need to adjust the power settings. Click on the green power meter in the taskbar, and choose Maximum Performance or Maximum Battery Life, depending on your requirements

Symantec liveupdate and manual virus scan:
If you take your laptop home with you over the summer, it won’t be able to contact our server to download virus definition updates. You will need to run the liveupdate process to manually download virus definitions.

  1. Every 1-2 weeks, open Symantec Antivirus by double clicking the yellow sheild icon in the system tray, or run it from the start menu
  2. Click the liveupdate button to start the update process

Wireless/Access Connections:
You connection to wireless networks is managed by Thinkvantage Access Connections. If the Access Connections status icon has a red “X” over it, you are not connected to the network. (SCREENSHOT NEEDED) To reconnect to the network:

  1. Press Fn-F5 on your keyboard.
  2. Make sure the “connection profiles” tab is selected in the window that pops up, and click on the profile of your choice, e.g. “Collegiate” or “home”.

To connect to your home wireless network with Access Connections, check out our tutorial: http://blogs.collegiateschool.org/tech/2006/12/13/configuring-access-connections-for-wireless-at-home/

System Tray:
If you computer is running slowly, you might have nonessential programs running in the background. Often these programs will have icons in the right side of the Task Bar, which is called the System Tray.

  1. If you hover your mouse pointer over an icon, a Tool Tip will pop up with the name of the program
  2. To quit a nonessential program, right click on it’s icon and choose quit or exit

Toolbars:
Don’t install toolbars!! See below:

Too Many Toolbars

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