Windows 98 Basic Maintenance Plan

Windows 98 Basic Maintenance Plan
By: Scott Hendison � Published: February 2000

Windows 98 Maintenance In February of 1998, I wrote an article here called "Tune up your Computer". In that article, among other things, I described the process of system maintenance called Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter (aka Defrag). The article is still posted on our website, at www.pdxtc.com, and if you're running Windows 95, it may help you out quite a bit.
Well Microsoft has made Windows 98 with a nifty tool for running these programs automatically. It's called the Maintenance Wizard, and it can be found by going to Start - Programs - Accessories - System tools - Maintenance Wizard.

The first time to start it, it will prompt you to use the most common settings, and will show you the times that they will be scheduled to happen. Just choose the defaults by selecting "Next " and "Okay". Don't check the box that asks to perform these tasks now for the first time, because they take quite a while. Then the dialog box will disappear. It's that quick. You're done unless you want to make changes.

Once set, the scheduled maintenance will appear in the Task Scheduler, which is an icon in your system tray (by your clock and volume controls in the lower right corner). By double clicking on it, you can see what actions are scheduled, when they will happen next, and when they last happened. Opening each individual task will allow you to fine tune the settings for each task. Anything from the exact times they will run, to types of functions can be adjusted. To read more about these functions and what they do, see the article previously mentioned.

This Maintenance Wizard has also helped me to answer the burning question, "Should you turn off your computer at night?" Since the MW won't work if the computer is powered off, one can only conclude that Windows 98 is designed to stay on 24/7. Except when out of town, I have always left my computer running day and night. I don't have the patience to wait for it to boot up, and this addition to Windows 98 has verified that my decision was correct.

Leaving your computer on all the time may be easier, faster, and more convenient, but it can lead to one problem. I call it "Memory Bleed". Constant opening and closing of programs will gradually bleed off valuable system resources. In another article (Speed it up Buddy) I explained how to check your systems memory usage. Go to the My Computer icon, right click - go to properties - go to the performance tab. There you can see your System Resources percentage. This number, ideally in the mid 90's can gradually get lower and lower until your computer is barely running at all. I'm not sure why this happens. Maybe Windows 2000 will be better.

To combat this drop in resources, I will reboot at least every couple of days when I'm leaving my computer alone for a few minutes. Well, I guess I reboot when I install new software too, but that's it...Oh, sometimes a program will work one day, then not the next, so I have to reboot to get it to work again, but other than that...Well okay, when the computer freezes up and CTRL - ALT - DEL won't do anything either, then I have to hit the reset button. But other than that I never turn it off...Oh yeah, I have to reboot when I get "Illegal Operations" too, but no other times...And that's how I keep my own computer running so flawlessly.