Here are a couple of Windows user’s bad habits that are disasters in the making.
People (you?) do these through ignorance. They don’t understand how computers in general and Windows in particular work, so they don’t make the necessary allowances. As an experienced teacher, I want to give you the background info so you can understand the issue, not just “rules” to follow blindly. Here goes…
You Can’t Rush Windows
Rule: Click once – wait for the result before clicking again.
I see this a lot. If Windows isn’t fast enough for them, users click on the same thing again and again – slowing Windows down even more.
Explanation:
Windows is an “Event driven system”. That is, it does nothing obvious until you click on something (but it does do lots of things on its own in the background). Your click is the “Event” that causes Windows to do something. Obviously Windows can’t ignore your clicks, so it has to store them for later action in a certain order and monitor them. By clicking repeatedly on the same thing, you simply force Windows to keep listing and monitoring the same next task over and over – which takes extra time and takes resources away from what Windows is trying to complete.
Follow Procedures
Rule: Don’t turn off the power without a proper Windows shutdown
Explanation:
A good way to damage your software or hardware is to turn off your computer’s power while it’s busy doing something. And to be efficient, Windows is always “busy doing something” – whether that something is visible to you or not. When you are not using the keyboard and mouse, Windows takes that opportunity to do housekeeping chores and to manage the programs you have running.
Windows “has a lot on its mind” – even when you do a normal Windows shutdown. It has to properly finish up any running processes, storing the results, clean up after your programs when they unload, and more. If you want to see just how busy Windows is, do Ctrl+Alt+Del (the “three fingered salute”) to bring up the Task Manager and then look at that “Processes” tab. Processes are the parts of all the programs and the Windows operations going in in your computers memory. Here is a picture of (part of) mine as I write this. You can see from the vertical scrollbar that there are even more which are not visible:
Some of the processes Windows is running
Stopping all those processes in mid heartbeat is NOT a good idea. So always do a full shutdown of Windows via [Start > Turn Off Computer > ...]. Never “just turn off the power switch”!
But what about power outages you ask?
Good question. If your electricity provider lets your neighborhood’s power go down that’s no different than you switching off the power – or with potential power surges when it comes back, it’s even worse. That’s what your UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is for. It keeps your computer running for a few minutes from its backup battery and its DC to AC power converter. It also has good electrical noise filters and surge protectors – even for your phone lines (phone lines are subject to lightning strikes, as are power lines).
If you don’t have a UPS, you really should get one. If you do have one and it has an old tired battery, you really should replace that battery. The leading maker of UPS units (and the one I use and like) is APC. Be sure your UPS is properly connected to your computer and that you are running their software, so it can properly shutdown Windows for you when there is a power failure and you’re not around.
Until next time – here’s to smart computing…
_jim coe
Tags: computer boot, computer cold boot, shut down, Task Manager, UPS, vulnerabilities
