Help Desk Mac Mechanic Page Two

Help: Mac Mechanic: 2 of 5

Weekly Maintenance Procedures

Check Your Hard Drive For Errors

Once each week you should run Disk First Aid (it comes free with your system software) or a commercial hard disk diagnostic and repair utility to eliminate any errors and corruptions. These can occur for any number of reasons, and eventually they will cause the drive to fail.

To check (and repair) your internal hard drive, you will need to startup your computer using something other than the internal hard drive as the "boot disk." (The drive that contains the system software currently running the machine.) You can use the Disk Tools diskette which came with your computer (the Mac looks to the Diskette Drive FIRST when searching for usable system software), or your system software CD (holding down the "C" key during startup forces the machine to use the system software on your CD-ROM).

Be sure you are using the newest version of Disk First Aid for your computer by visiting the Apple Web Site and downloading the newest version. And, for more advanced software that will repair a wider range of hard drive problems and provide additional diagnostic/repair benefits), consider purchasing Norton Utilities for Macintosh or TechTool Pro.)

Check Your System For Viruses

Viruses generally aren't a problem for Macs. When last counted, there were only about 63 known Macintosh viruses. Wintel users have to worry about several thousand.

As I write this, however, the Macintosh AutoStart 9805 Virus (worm) is sweeping the nation. Originally discovered in Hong Kong, this nasty little bug (actually, there are six different varieties) copies itself to every diskette, hard drive or removable it comes into contact with (yours, or someone else's) and can eventually erase data files, system files, fonts and applications. (NOTE: This virus ONLY affects Macintosh or clone computers which use a PowerPC processor and QuickTime Software v2.0 or higher.)

The two best-selling commercial virus removers are Norton Antivirus for Macintosh and Network Associates' VIREX. However, there are a number of free Autostart Virus removers available for download from the Web. (Visit the Version Tracker or MacFixit web sites and search for "Autostart." The freeware utility called "WormGobbler" is our favorite.)

These utilities can remove Autostart Virus infections, but they can't fix damaged files, so the best approach is to prevent an infection from the start. To do this, go to your Control Panels Folder and find the QuickTime Settings Control Panel. Open this, find the "Enable AutoPlay" (or "Enable CD AutoPlay") option and "uncheck" the box to turn it off. (As shown below, you can leave the "Audio CD Autoplay" function turned on.) Restart your machine and you're done.

That's it, the virus can no longer become "alive" and your machine is now safe. (But, existing virus files may still be lurking on your drives and disks, so be sure to check them soon, just to be safe.)

NOTE: If your computer doesn't have a QuickTime Settings Control Panel, you are using an older version of the QuickTime software. Only QuickTime v2.5 or higher contains this important control panel. Visit Apple's web site to download QuickTime v2.5 or v3.0+ today. Without it, your PowerPC is at risk of infection!

Backup Your Less-critical Documents

In addition to backing up your data files on a daily basis, once a week you should backup your System, Applications, Fonts and Utilities Folders. True, if you have all the original CDs and disks for these items you can spend a day or two reloading everything after a hard drive failure. But backing up these files now will allow you to recover from catastrophes much faster. (Be sure to check for hard drive corruptions and virus infections BEFORE backing up. Otherwise, your backups may have the same problems.)

BACK

NEXT

HOME . SERVICES . HELP DESK . RESOURCES . WHY MAC . CREDENTIALS

Copyright 1998, 5-Minute Mac Consulting, Wampum, Pennsylvania, USA

Help: Mac Mechanic: 2 of 5
Weekly Maintenance Procedures Check Your Hard Drive For Errors Once each week you should run Disk First Aid (it comes free with your system software) or a commercial hard disk diagnostic and repair utility to eliminate any errors and corruptions. These can occur for any number of reasons, and eventually they will cause the drive to fail. To check (and repair) your internal hard drive, you will need to startup your computer using something other than the internal hard drive as the "boot disk." (The drive that contains the system software currently running the machine.) You can use the Disk Tools diskette which came with your computer (the Mac looks to the Diskette Drive FIRST when searching for usable system software), or your system software CD (holding down the "C" key during startup forces the machine to use the system software on your CD-ROM). Be sure you are using the newest version of Disk First Aid for your computer by visiting the Apple Web Site and downloading the newest version. And, for more advanced software that will repair a wider range of hard drive problems and provide additional diagnostic/repair benefits), consider purchasing Norton Utilities for Macintosh or TechTool Pro.) Check Your System For Viruses Viruses generally aren't a problem for Macs. When last counted, there were only about 63 known Macintosh viruses. Wintel users have to worry about several thousand. As I write this, however, the Macintosh AutoStart 9805 Virus (worm) is sweeping the nation. Originally discovered in Hong Kong, this nasty little bug (actually, there are six different varieties) copies itself to every diskette, hard drive or removable it comes into contact with (yours, or someone else's) and can eventually erase data files, system files, fonts and applications. (NOTE: This virus ONLY affects Macintosh or clone computers which use a PowerPC processor and QuickTime Software v2.0 or higher.) The two best-selling commercial virus removers are Norton Antivirus for Macintosh and Network Associates' VIREX. However, there are a number of free Autostart Virus removers available for download from the Web. (Visit the Version Tracker or MacFixit web sites and search for "Autostart." The freeware utility called "WormGobbler" is our favorite.) These utilities can remove Autostart Virus infections, but they can't fix damaged files, so the best approach is to prevent an infection from the start. To do this, go to your Control Panels Folder and find the QuickTime Settings Control Panel. Open this, find the "Enable AutoPlay" (or "Enable CD AutoPlay") option and "uncheck" the box to turn it off. (As shown below, you can leave the "Audio CD Autoplay" function turned on.) Restart your machine and you're done. That's it, the virus can no longer become "alive" and your machine is now safe. (But, existing virus files may still be lurking on your drives and disks, so be sure to check them soon, just to be safe.) NOTE: If your computer doesn't have a QuickTime Settings Control Panel, you are using an older version of the QuickTime software. Only QuickTime v2.5 or higher contains this important control panel. Visit Apple's web site to download QuickTime v2.5 or v3.0+ today. Without it, your PowerPC is at risk of infection! Backup Your Less-critical Documents In addition to backing up your data files on a daily basis, once a week you should backup your System, Applications, Fonts and Utilities Folders. True, if you have all the original CDs and disks for these items you can spend a day or two reloading everything after a hard drive failure. But backing up these files now will allow you to recover from catastrophes much faster. (Be sure to check for hard drive corruptions and virus infections BEFORE backing up. Otherwise, your backups may have the same problems.)
BACK		NEXT

HOME . SERVICES . HELP DESK . RESOURCES . WHY MAC . CREDENTIALS
Copyright 1998, 5-Minute Mac Consulting, Wampum, Pennsylvania, USA