swishsticks
Posts: 6 +0
Although I’m not an expert, I’ve agreed to help check and tune-up the computers for a charity which provides a helpline and counsellors for adults and children with emotional problems.
All the people staffing it are volunteers, including my girlfriend, who has told me that no-one maintains the computers there and hasn’t done for a couple of years or so. Which means they're in a less than optimal state. So they’re happy for me to come in and do it on an ‘as-is’ basis. None of the people in the office have more than very basic computer literacy when it comes to the system side.
I’m going in on Monday and would like someone more experienced to check over what I plan to do and make any suggestions necessary to do a good job.
The reason I’m posting here is that it's a collection of tasks encompassing security and optimisation in a network. Although I’ve done all the tasks listed below on our two stand-alone computers at home, I’m not familiar with what changes might be needed when doing these tasks on a network, nor about what I should be doing to optimize the network.
From what I’ve been told, there is a small network of three computers. Only one has e-mail access. Don’t know why that is, but it means everyone has to go to that computer to see if there’s any mail. That needs to be fixed. Perhaps their Internet Service Provider only recognises one computer as being eligible to access its mail server.
Another network problem is that when one user creates a document and saves to to the network drive, other users can't always open it, sometimes getting a message that it's being used.
The computers are about three years old, and she told me they have XP and Office, with Internet Explorer. I assume XP Pro, but maybe not. I asked who has administrator rights, but she’s not sure. She says they do not have log-on passwords, but just turn on the computers and use them…
Basic network questions
A) Do I need to disconnect the computer I’m checking from the network while I do any of the tasks below, and if so, what’s the simplest and safest way to do so?
B) I’m used to cleaning and defragging the local hard drive. Can I do the same thing in the same way for the network drive?
C) Over and above the tasks below, what’s a good way to check the current network situation and optimise it? Perhaps it would also be good to set up a password login system to improve security, but I don’t know really how to set that up and define users and user rights.
Task list (in the order I plan to do it)
1) Basic system info. collection – disk space, ram, OS version etc. Will run Belarc Advisor on each computer.
2) Backup – I haven’t used this feature before, but if they have XP Pro I’ll give it a try. How much space will I need for the backups? I thought I would try to put the files onto a CD, but I'm not sure which files to select for backup.
3) Create a system restore point.
4) Virus scan – they apparently have Norton AV, but complain they get a lot of viruses in their e-mail. They get updates from Norton every so often (maybe every two weeks?) but since they have to pay for this service they would consider an alternative.
I will use the Norton first, and maybe an online scanner like Panda if the virus definitions are not very fresh. If necessary, will turn off system restore to remove any viruses from backups. Would it be worth uninstalling Norton and installing AVG Free Edition? I don’t know if it would work on a network.
Log on to their ISP, since I know it has a service to check e-mail for viruses and spam at the server level. Once I activate this it should remove most of their incoming junk, which the volunteers have not been able to get under control.
5) Install Spybot and scan for malware. Install Spyblaster and protect IE settings. Look at IE configuration and set security to medium-high. Check Advanced list to ensure secure options are selected. Delete temp files from IE.
6) Use Windows Update to download and install most recent OS files. Is there anything I need to know about upgrading OS files to a computer that’s on a network? If they have not installed SP1 yet, do I need to do that first, or can I go straight to SP2? Create/check for a system restore point.
7) Check to see if they have most recent Service Pack for their version of Office. Install as necessary. Create/check for a system restore point. Check Outlook security settings.
8) Run Windows Disk Cleanup. Run a freeware utility called Find Junk Files.
9) Use a program called Ace Utilities to do a registry clean, clean up the drive some more, check start-up list and fix broken shortcuts. Will also check start-up list in msconfig.
10) Install Zone Alarms Free Firewall on each computer which has internet access (all of them, I think). How does this program work on a network, and do I need to change any of the usual settings I have at home?
11) Check the list of installed programs and uninstall those not needed.
12) Defragment the drive, using a trial version of Perfect Disk. What’s the best to defrag a computer that’s on a network? Should I disconnect it first?
13) Create final system restore point, check programs to make sure everything is functional, and then delete earlier restore points.
Any suggestions on the above or ideas for extra interventions will be very much appreciated. If I encounter any unexpected problems on Monday , I’ll post them here too.
Thanks very much for your time.
Swish
All the people staffing it are volunteers, including my girlfriend, who has told me that no-one maintains the computers there and hasn’t done for a couple of years or so. Which means they're in a less than optimal state. So they’re happy for me to come in and do it on an ‘as-is’ basis. None of the people in the office have more than very basic computer literacy when it comes to the system side.
I’m going in on Monday and would like someone more experienced to check over what I plan to do and make any suggestions necessary to do a good job.
The reason I’m posting here is that it's a collection of tasks encompassing security and optimisation in a network. Although I’ve done all the tasks listed below on our two stand-alone computers at home, I’m not familiar with what changes might be needed when doing these tasks on a network, nor about what I should be doing to optimize the network.
From what I’ve been told, there is a small network of three computers. Only one has e-mail access. Don’t know why that is, but it means everyone has to go to that computer to see if there’s any mail. That needs to be fixed. Perhaps their Internet Service Provider only recognises one computer as being eligible to access its mail server.
Another network problem is that when one user creates a document and saves to to the network drive, other users can't always open it, sometimes getting a message that it's being used.
The computers are about three years old, and she told me they have XP and Office, with Internet Explorer. I assume XP Pro, but maybe not. I asked who has administrator rights, but she’s not sure. She says they do not have log-on passwords, but just turn on the computers and use them…
Basic network questions
A) Do I need to disconnect the computer I’m checking from the network while I do any of the tasks below, and if so, what’s the simplest and safest way to do so?
B) I’m used to cleaning and defragging the local hard drive. Can I do the same thing in the same way for the network drive?
C) Over and above the tasks below, what’s a good way to check the current network situation and optimise it? Perhaps it would also be good to set up a password login system to improve security, but I don’t know really how to set that up and define users and user rights.
Task list (in the order I plan to do it)
1) Basic system info. collection – disk space, ram, OS version etc. Will run Belarc Advisor on each computer.
2) Backup – I haven’t used this feature before, but if they have XP Pro I’ll give it a try. How much space will I need for the backups? I thought I would try to put the files onto a CD, but I'm not sure which files to select for backup.
3) Create a system restore point.
4) Virus scan – they apparently have Norton AV, but complain they get a lot of viruses in their e-mail. They get updates from Norton every so often (maybe every two weeks?) but since they have to pay for this service they would consider an alternative.
I will use the Norton first, and maybe an online scanner like Panda if the virus definitions are not very fresh. If necessary, will turn off system restore to remove any viruses from backups. Would it be worth uninstalling Norton and installing AVG Free Edition? I don’t know if it would work on a network.
Log on to their ISP, since I know it has a service to check e-mail for viruses and spam at the server level. Once I activate this it should remove most of their incoming junk, which the volunteers have not been able to get under control.
5) Install Spybot and scan for malware. Install Spyblaster and protect IE settings. Look at IE configuration and set security to medium-high. Check Advanced list to ensure secure options are selected. Delete temp files from IE.
6) Use Windows Update to download and install most recent OS files. Is there anything I need to know about upgrading OS files to a computer that’s on a network? If they have not installed SP1 yet, do I need to do that first, or can I go straight to SP2? Create/check for a system restore point.
7) Check to see if they have most recent Service Pack for their version of Office. Install as necessary. Create/check for a system restore point. Check Outlook security settings.
8) Run Windows Disk Cleanup. Run a freeware utility called Find Junk Files.
9) Use a program called Ace Utilities to do a registry clean, clean up the drive some more, check start-up list and fix broken shortcuts. Will also check start-up list in msconfig.
10) Install Zone Alarms Free Firewall on each computer which has internet access (all of them, I think). How does this program work on a network, and do I need to change any of the usual settings I have at home?
11) Check the list of installed programs and uninstall those not needed.
12) Defragment the drive, using a trial version of Perfect Disk. What’s the best to defrag a computer that’s on a network? Should I disconnect it first?
13) Create final system restore point, check programs to make sure everything is functional, and then delete earlier restore points.
Any suggestions on the above or ideas for extra interventions will be very much appreciated. If I encounter any unexpected problems on Monday , I’ll post them here too.
Thanks very much for your time.
Swish