The PC: Friend or Foe

Essay by ChristensenHigh School, 12th grade July 2002

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The PC: Friend or Foe

Just a few years ago the most common tool used to write a letter or an essay in grade twelve English class was a pencil. That was a device of the past because now the most common instrument to write, collect, or exchange information is the Personal Computer. The P.C. made its introduction into the marketplace at the beginning of the 1980's. It was the start of an industry of information exchange that has affected every aspect of life. Look into any home in any neighbour and sitting at a computer screen will be someone writing a letter, playing a game, processing business accounts or transmitting on the Internet. Society is inundated with these machines at a rate of 300,000 per year and soon every home in North America will have a computer or two for their personal pleasure or home business. Maintenance is a key word in protecting this investment and proper care of the hard disk, printer, and system case remain essential for quality computing.

Taking care of business is more that just checking the figures in the accounts registry. Special care should be taken to the storage device that contains the data of system information and business data generated with each transaction made throughout the workday. There are two survival utility programs that are part of the operating system's tool chest used to keep the hard disk in perfect condition. The first one is called Disk Defragmenter, which can be launched by moving the mouse pointing device to the Start button, then to Programs, then to Accessories, then to System Tools and finally to the Disk Defragmenter command request. This tool writes and rewrites the program, system, and data files in sequential order on the hard disk, therefore, placing information...