Good morning!
This week's ITSie BIT: Payday Maintenance (Novell password, CleanUp, Defrag)
What's Payday Maintenance? This is a term we use to remind you to do some computer maintenance each month...and what better date to do it than on payday -or some day close to payday?!! :-)
There are many tools you can use to clean your computer to make it run more efficiently, but here are only 3 we need you to do.
Step 1. Change your Novell Client password!!!
For Windows 98:
1. Right-click on the thick red letter "N" (Novell) that's in the system tray (bottom right corner of the screen).
2. Select User Administration.
3. Select Novell Password Administration.
4. Highlight MISD_TREE.
5. Change your MISD_TREE password. (Wait a few minutes before you login to eSembler.)
For Windows 2000 and XP:
1. Hold down the Ctrl/Alt/Delete Keys.
2. Click on Change Password button.
3. Click (select) MISD_TREE that's in the left pane (column). <-This is a very important step!
4. Type your old password in the Old Password field, then press tab to move to the next field.
5. Type new password, then press tab.
6. Type new password again to confirm, then press tab.
7. Then click the OK button.
(Wait a few minutes before you login to eSembler.)
Do these 2 things at the end of a day or when you don't need to use your computer. Do CleanUp first, then Disk Defragmenter.
Step 2. Run CleanUp 
The program is attached if you need it. Drag it to your desktop to download it.
1. Open the program.
2. Click the CleanUp button. (It'll make a flushing toilet sound so you might need to mute. ;->)
3. Click YES to log off when prompted. That's it!
Step 3. Run Defrag 
Because Disk Defragmenter is found in different places on different machines, I'm going to tell you how to run it without having to navigator to it. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, so if the following directions don't work for you, try going to START > HELP (or Support). Type the keyword "Defragmenter" or "Defrag" for directions. (The following steps do work with XP computers.)
1. Go to START > RUN.
2. Type DFRG.MSC
3. After the program opens, select Defragment of the C: drive.
Two important tips about Defrag:
- It's helpful to disable your screen saver before running Defrag. (RIGHT click once on your desktop > Properties > Screen Saver & set it to None.)
- Since Defrag takes such a long time, I always start the program at the end of the day, just turn off my monitor (not the computer), and let it run over night.
Running CleanUp and Disk Defragmenter will help make your computer run more efficiently. It should be done at least once a month.
Have a great payday week!