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jamesharvey · 01-10-2002, 05:26 PM

Hi!

I'm not going to attempt to answer question 3 because this seems to be one of those "test-it-and-hope" questions where a lot of fiddling is required to get it to work!

Ok, question 1). Yes, McAfee is an anti-virus program which attempts to detect virus', trojans and other malicious coding. It normally loads up when your system boots and should remain resident in memory all the time. Generally, it is a good idea to update the virus definitions weekly to make sure you are protected against most of the latest viri. Ask your IT guy to show you how: i have never used McAfee personally.

Question 2) There should be a command to scan your system or individual files. However, not knowing about McAfee, i can only guess. Try selecting a file, right-mouse clicking and look at the options it gives you. I will guess that one will be to scan the file for viri. To do a system scan, load up McAfee (probably in your start menu) and mess about inside the program. There should be a big button that says something about scanning system. Press it and hope!

Question 4) If you need to get rid of some files, try clearing your browser cache and deleting your cookies. Cookies are simply text files which a website you have browsed has placed on your computer to store some information i.e. if you have visited the site before. To delete them, load up your browser (i'm going to assume you are using IE judging buy your post), click on Tools -> Internet Options. Then click "Delete Files". This will erase your browser cache (temporary place used to store webpages etc) and should free up some space. If you need to delete any more stuff, use the proper uninstall shields to remove programs you have installed otherwise you may accidently remove files that other programs are linked to. (dll's are the worst)

Question 5) There may be a number of reasons. You may have a lot of programs running in the background. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and see how many items come up in the box. The more there are, the more programs you have running, but are unaware of. What spec is your machine? If you have a lot of programs loaded into your system tray (the icons beside the clock) you may be running low on system resources. How much ram do you have installed? If it is low, the computer may be trying to page to virtual memory on your hard disk (basically to try and immitate ram) but because of low disk space it has no space it can't meaning you can only run a few programs. Have a look to see what is being loaded at startup (Start Button -> Programs -> Startup). Again, the more programs the less user resources. If you know how to access the registry, or someone else can do it for you, the key you need to look under to see a "proper" list of startup programs is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

I've tried to keep this as simple as poss, if you don't get any of it, post back or email me and i will try and explain again.

Good luck!

01-10-2002, 05:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
jamesharvey Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Uni of Birmingham, UK Posts: 35	Hi! I'm not going to attempt to answer question 3 because this seems to be one of those "test-it-and-hope" questions where a lot of fiddling is required to get it to work! Ok, question 1). Yes, McAfee is an anti-virus program which attempts to detect virus', trojans and other malicious coding. It normally loads up when your system boots and should remain resident in memory all the time. Generally, it is a good idea to update the virus definitions weekly to make sure you are protected against most of the latest viri. Ask your IT guy to show you how: i have never used McAfee personally. Question 2) There should be a command to scan your system or individual files. However, not knowing about McAfee, i can only guess. Try selecting a file, right-mouse clicking and look at the options it gives you. I will guess that one will be to scan the file for viri. To do a system scan, load up McAfee (probably in your start menu) and mess about inside the program. There should be a big button that says something about scanning system. Press it and hope! Question 4) If you need to get rid of some files, try clearing your browser cache and deleting your cookies. Cookies are simply text files which a website you have browsed has placed on your computer to store some information i.e. if you have visited the site before. To delete them, load up your browser (i'm going to assume you are using IE judging buy your post), click on Tools -> Internet Options. Then click "Delete Files". This will erase your browser cache (temporary place used to store webpages etc) and should free up some space. If you need to delete any more stuff, use the proper uninstall shields to remove programs you have installed otherwise you may accidently remove files that other programs are linked to. (dll's are the worst) Question 5) There may be a number of reasons. You may have a lot of programs running in the background. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and see how many items come up in the box. The more there are, the more programs you have running, but are unaware of. What spec is your machine? If you have a lot of programs loaded into your system tray (the icons beside the clock) you may be running low on system resources. How much ram do you have installed? If it is low, the computer may be trying to page to virtual memory on your hard disk (basically to try and immitate ram) but because of low disk space it has no space it can't meaning you can only run a few programs. Have a look to see what is being loaded at startup (Start Button -> Programs -> Startup). Again, the more programs the less user resources. If you know how to access the registry, or someone else can do it for you, the key you need to look under to see a "proper" list of startup programs is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run I've tried to keep this as simple as poss, if you don't get any of it, post back or email me and i will try and explain again. Good luck!