THE NIGERIAN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL

SEMINARY, OGBOMOSO

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES

(GES 511/111)

LECTURE NOTE

COMPILED BY

REV. DR. OLAIDE O. AJEIGBE

 PC SIMPLE AND ROUTINE MAINTENANCE
PC maintenance doesn’t have to be time-consuming and tedious. Windows’ built-in functions, with
an assist from some third-party tools, can automate much or all of the necessary tasks. With your PC
on a solid maintenance schedule, you’ll enjoy smoother, faster, more stable, and more error-free PC
operation all year long!

Daily: Backup your data. You don't want to lose yesterday's work anymore than you want to lose
last week's, so your documents, pictures, and application data should be backed up daily.

Weekly: Scan for malware. Your real-time antivirus program isn't perfect; something evil could
slip by it. So to be on the safe side, get a second opinion every week by scanning with another
security program. For that second opinion, you need something reliable, you want something free,
and you don't need anything with real-time protection

Monthly: Defrag your hard drive. Over time, your files become fragmented--with any single file
split over multiple physical parts of the drive. Fragmentation can slow your PC and render lost files
less retrievable. Windows comes with a perfectly fine defragger. In Windows Explorer, right-click
the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Tools tab, then the Defragment Now button. XP users
will get a button to start the defrag. Vista and Windows 7 give you that plus an option to configure
scheduled defragging.

Monthly: Scan your hard drive for errors. You're not looking for viruses or worms here, but
physical and logical problems with the disk that could render parts of it unreadable. It's handy to do
this chore at the same time you defrag, because both chores start on the C: drive Properties' Tools
tab.

Twice a Year: Backup your hard drive as an image. While not as important as a recent backup of
your data an image backup of your entire drive can be a life-saver should your hard drive crash or
Windows become hopelessly corrupt. A good image backup means never having to reinstall
Windows from scratch.

You can explore some other maintenance options.

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 COMPUTER VIRUS AND ANTI-VIRUS
Computer viruses are small software programs that are designed to spread from one computer
to another and to interfere with computer operation. Basically, viruses disrupt the work of the
computer, corrupt the data stored on the hard disk, create access rights for other users/hackers, collect
passwords and forward them, etc. The computer viruses can also slow a computer network down to
a standstill by creating excess network traffic.
The viruses that spread by e-mail send virus-infected e-mails to a random e-mail address from
a random sender. The so-called printer viruses have also started to spread. These viruses search for a
non-password-protected printer in a computer network and try to use up all the paper in a printer.
Many viruses activate on a specific date or under specific conditions and can-do irreparable damage
by corrupting the computer’s BIOS ROM and/or all the information on the hard disk.

What do computer viruses do?

Through the course of using the Internet and your computer, you may have come in to contact
with computer viruses. Many computer viruses are stopped before they can start, but there is still an
ever-growing concern as to what do computer viruses do and the list of common computer virus
symptoms. A computer virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your email program
to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard disk.
Computer viruses are often spread by attachments in email messages or instant messaging
messages. That is why it is essential that you never open email attachments unless you know who it's
from and you are expecting it. Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting
cards, or audio and video files.

How do computer viruses spread?

Unlike flu, the computer viruses spread in any time of the year. They spread with files on
floppy disks and CD-s, also via computer networks by e-mail and shared resources, using the
socalled security holes. Many computer users have discovered at one moment that their files have
been corrupted and the data cannot be restored, or that the computer is acting weirdly and does not
allow carrying on with the normal daily work. Very often these situations are caused by computer
viruses.
The primary indicators that a computer has been infected by a virus are the following:
• Some programmes work slower.
• The file sizes rise (especially for editable files).
• The appearance of suspicious files that did not exist before.
• A significant decrease in available system memory compared to the normal work situation.
• The appearance of unexpected video and/or sound effects.
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 In case you detect any of the abovementioned symptoms or other suspicious occurrences
(unreliable working conditions, frequent spontaneous reboots etc.) while using your computer, we
advise you to immediately check your computer for viruses.

What should be done to avoid computer viruses?

Check that your Windows or other operating system has installed the latest security patches or
updates. When using Win95, 98, ME, and XP go to the Windows Update website, the most important
updates being the ones labelled Critical updates. Administrators of NT and Win2k systems should
definitely check that the latest service pack has been installed on the computer. In the case of NT 4,
the cumulative hot-fix pack and IIS updates should also be installed.
Configure your Windows so that you can see the file name extensions. As a rule, these are
3letter abbreviations, based on which Windows understands whether it is dealing with a Word
document (.doc) or a programme (.com, .exe, .bat, .vbs, .pif). If you are sent anything resembling a
programme file, do not open it.
To allow the displaying of file name extensions, open any folder, My Documents for example
and select Tools/ Folder Options, then View and remove the check from the Hide extensions for
known file types checkbox. Now you can always see if you have received a Word document or a
malicious virus.
Treat e-mail attachments with caution even if the sender is someone you know. The
attachment may have been sent by a virus in his/her computer without the owner's knowledge. If the
message in the e-mail does not explicitly state why the e-mail contains an attachment and that it is
indeed the wish of the sender to open this attachment, please phone the sender and confirm the
intentions. When you are attaching a file to an e-mail yourself, you should add a description of what
files are in the attachment and why - the recipient will feel safer opening it.
The files spread in internet newsgroups and chat rooms should be treated with an even greater
degree of caution. Use a personal firewall to protect your computer from hackers and internet worms
looking for security holes, but also in order to block the viruses that have already infected your
computer from communicating with the outside world. Be sure to use antivirus software!

ANTIVIRUS
Anti-virus software is a program or set of programs that are designed to prevent, search for, detect,
and remove software viruses, and other malicious software like worms, trojans, adware, and more.
These tools are critical for users to have installed and up-to-date because a computer without anti-
virus software installed will be infected within minutes of connecting to the internet. The
bombardment is constant, with anti-virus companies update their detection tools constantly to deal
with the more than 60,000 new pieces of malware created daily.

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 There are several different companies that build and offer anti-virus software and what each
offer can vary but all perform some basic functions:
• Scan specific files or directories for any malware or known malicious patterns
• Allow you to schedule scans to automatically run for you
• Allow you to initiate a scan of a specific file or of your computer, or of a CD or flash drive at
any time.
• Remove any malicious code detected –sometimes you will be notified of an infection and
asked if you want to clean the file, other programs will automatically do this behind the
scenes.
• Show you the ‘health’ of your computer

Always be sure you have the best, up-to-date security software installed to protect your
computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

In order to secure your files and for the sensible use of your working time you should use
antivirus software in your computer. Although these do not offer a 100% guarantee that your
computer will not be harmed by viruses, they do help to detect and remove the majority of computer
viruses that are spreading at the moment. Antivirus software is useless, if it does not update its virus
definitions at least once a day, because the newest viruses spread in a day’s time. If a virus has already
infected a computer, it is often not possible to install antivirus software in it.

This is a suitable place to remind you that when working with a computer, the rule-
ofthumb is "better safe than sorry". This means the following:
• always make backup copies of your files,
• check all floppy disks, CD-s and files downloaded from the internet for viruses,
• do not allow your computer to be used by random acquaintances,
• update your antivirus software at least once a month.
• Saving your documents on the cloud can help you to have a backup.