My Monthly Housekeeping Regimen

If you’ve been a Good Booter for any length of time you know I’m a bit of an eccentric when it comes to backing up. But you may not know I’m also an enthusiastic computer housekeeper.

And I suggest if you’ve a significant amount of valuable data, you should consider augmenting your backup regimen with a good housekeeping regimen.

I always begin my monthly housekeeping regimen with an update checkup.

I begin by insuring my anti virus and anti spyware are current. For whatever reason there’s always a chance they may not have been updated and I may not have been notified there was a problem.

Usually a click on their icons in the Toolbar Notification Area and a glance at the date of their current update is sufficient. However if for any reason I’m concerned about how current the update is, I run a full update.

My next "just in case" housekeeping regimen includes a trip to Windows’ update Web site. I have Windows check to insure I’ve all the latest critical updates. And while I’m there I check the non critical updates to see if there are any of interest.

I also visit Microsoft Office’s Web site and check for updates as they often include security fixes.
Much of the rest my monthly housekeeping regimen is nothing more than making sure I’ve not forgotten to do what I should have done when I created new, important data, added to my Windows’ system configuration e.g., installed a program or added new hardware.

It includes:
1. A Balarc (www.belarc.com) which I print and file to be available should my technician need it.
2. A personal preference - WinAudit (free - Google it). It’s an comprehensive inventory of "Everything" on your commuter. It’s so detailed it defies printing so I save it to a folder in Documents.
3. Exporting my IE Favorites.
4. Backing up Outlook * (the backup add-in is available on Microsoft’s Web site)
5. Saving my important e-mail.
6. Insuring I’ve relocated to folders in Document any other important data that’s not by default backed up to Documents.
7. Printing out my Outlook calendar.

Outlook Express users should consider exporting to their Documents or My Documents their Address Book and important e-mail as well as a backup of Outlook Express. And I also suggest they print out their calendar.

Once I’ve completed my monthly housekeeping chores I know my monthly backup will be all-inclusive.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.