Q:How often do we need to do the Compact and Repair function in File Maintenance in Utilities? And why is this important?
A:You should do the compact and repair MONTHLY. Also, before running it, you should either do a backup or insure that you have a recent backup. In addition, you need to make sure that all users are out of WinCare (other than the user running the compact and repair) before running this function. Doing this maintenance task will help the facility in 2 ways: 1) This will repair any minor corruption that may be present in the database. Corruption can cause data access problems or run-time errors. 2) In access databases, when items get marked deleted, they are not actually removed from the file. When you compact, that's when deleted records are actually deleted. This makes the WinCare databases smaller (saving space on the hard drive) and can confer faster access times.
Q: My system has started running slow, what can I do to speed it up?
A: The first thing to do is to check the drive that the data is stored on for errors and then defragment the drive.
How to scan your server's hard disk for errors and fix them as well as defragment the server (speeds up the computer):
Please note that on most servers, both chkdsk and defrag operations can take a long time (1-3 hours), so you will want to schedule these either at night or the weekend. Note that you CAN just start them, and leave and they will finish on their own. You should always chkdsk before defragmenting, as if there are errors the defragment process might abort. Also, note that WinCare will (and should) be unavailable while these processes are going on.
To scan the hard disk for errors (surface scan):
1) Double-click the My Computer Icon. This icon is usually either on your desktop or under the Start Menu.
2) Move the mouse pointer over your C: drive, and click the right mouse button. A context menu appears; left-click Properties.
3) Click Tools Tab
4) Click Check Now button.
5) Check the box "Automatically fix file system errors" and check the box for "Scan for and attempt recover for bad sectors", click Start. Note that if it can get the necessary access the scan will start right then. If it cannot, it will tell you it will need to start the scan on the next restart of the computer, Click Yes if you see that. Then just click Start > Shutdown > Restart the Computer to begin the scan. At this point you can leave the computer unsupervised. When finished it will boot up to the Windows Log On.
To defragment the hard drive (often speeds up the computer):
1) Double-click the My Computer Icon. This icon is usually either on your desktop or under the Start Menu.
2) Move the mouse pointer over your C: drive, and click the right mouse button. A context menu appears; left-click Properties.
3) Click Tools Tab
4) Click Defragment Now button.
5) Click the C: drive icon above, then click Defragment. You can now leave the computer unsupervised.
