Department of Education

National Capital Region

Schools Division of Parañaque City
Self-Learning Module
TVL 11 – COMPUTER SYSTEM SERVICING NC II
SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Software maintenance lets you modify and update software application after delivery to correct
faults and to improve performance. Software maintenance may vary based on its nature. It may be
a routine maintenance task as some bug discovered by some user, or it may be a large event based
on maintenance size or nature.

Here are different types of maintenance based on their characteristics:

• Corrective Maintenance - This includes modifications and updating done to correct or fix
problems, which are either discovered by the user or concluded by user error reports.
• Adaptive Maintenance - This includes modifications and updating applied to keep the
software product up-to date and tuned to the ever-changing world of technology and
business environment.
• Perfective Maintenance - This includes modifications and updates done to keep the software
usable over a long period of time. It includes new features, new user requirements for refining
the software and improves its reliability and performance.
• Preventive Maintenance - This includes modifications and updating to prevent future
problems with the software. It aims to deal with problems which are not significant at this
moment but may cause serious issues in future.

LET’S UNDERSTAND

Why Software Requires Maintenance?

1. Bug fixing
2. Capability enhancement
3. Removal of outdated functions through updating of software
4. Performance improvement

PERFORMING WINDOWS UPDATE

It may not seem like a security issue but keeping windows up to date is perhaps the first
and most important thing you can do to fix bugs and address other issues you might have with the
operating system.

Windows Update is a program, but it's also a service. It runs all the time, checking in to see whether
anything new is available. If so, updates are installed automatically, often restarting Windows along
the way.

To check the status of Windows Update, follow these steps:

1. Press Windows Key + I to open the Settings app.
2. Choose Update and Security. You will see the Windows update screen illustrated below:

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The above figure shows no updates. You can click the Check for Updates button to see whether
anything is available. When an update is available that requires you to restart Windows, a Restart
button appears in place of the Check for Updates button. Your options are to restart at once; click
the Restart button to proceed. Or you can wait, and Windows restarts automatically at a preset
time. A notification also appears, reminding you that a restart is pending.

Take Note:
• Windows will restart to install the input. You can't avoid it. Unlike in older versions of Windows
Update, you cannot stop updates in Windows 10.
• A pending restart generates a notification. If you don't catch the pop-up notification, press
Windows Key + A to look for pending restarts and updated in the Action Center.
• Other programs run their own update services. For example, Adobe may nag you about
updates, as does most third-party security software.

Updating Drivers
The Windows Update service may or may not update drivers. These are the control programs that
run specific software, such as the printer driver, display adapter driver, and network driver. To
ensure that hardware drivers are updates, use the Device Manager to confirm that hardware is
using the best possible driver.

To access the Device Manager, follow these steps:

1. Press Windows Key + X.
2. Press M to choose Device Manager.
To view specific hardware, open a category. Any hardware errors detected are flagged in the
Device Manager window: The hardware category is open; a tiny yellow warning icon appears by
the hardware entry.

PERFORMING DISK CLEANUP

Disk Cleanup is a Microsoft Windows Tool that helps cleanup the computer’s hard drive. Some of
the locations that Disk Cleanup removes are Downloaded Program Files, Internet Temporary Files,
Offline Web pages, Recycle Bin, Setup Log Files, Windows Temporary Files, Temporary Offline
Files, Offline Files, etc.

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This utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then
removes the unnecessary files.

To access the Disk Cleanup tool, follow these steps:

To delete temporary files:
1. In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup from the list of
results.
2. Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK.
3. Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type,
select it.
4. Select OK.

If you need to free up more space, you can also delete system files:
1. In Disk Cleanup, select Clean up system files.
2. Select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
3. Select OK.

PERFORMING CHECK DISK

Check Disk is a Microsoft Windows NT based utility that checks the integrity of the filing system
(FAT/NTFS), and physical integrity of the hard disk and will repairs the problem if possible. The menu
provides two options. The long scan checks the integrity of the filing system and the physical
integrity of the hard disk. The short scan checks the integrity of the filing system only.

To run CHKDSK in Windows 10 or 8.1, follow these steps:

To start, open a new File Explorer window (click Windows key + E) then click This PC. Right-click on
the drive that you wish to scan - most commonly this will be your C: Drive or D: Drive - then click
Properties.

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The Properties window for the selected drive will now open. Here, click the Tools tab and then click
Check under the Error checking section. If your PC thinks everything is running smoothly, it will
show a window stating that you do not need to scan the drive at all. However, if you would prefer
to run a CHKDSK scan, you can proceed by clicking Scan drive below this. Do not worry, you cannot
do any damage to your PC by running this scan process.

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PERFORMING DISK DEFRAGMENTATION

The process of consolidating fragmented files and folders is called defragmentation. Disk
Defragmenter analyzes local volumes and consolidates fragmented files and folders so that each
occupies a single, contiguous space on the volume.

It consolidates your files and folders. It also consolidates a volume's free space, making it less likely
that new files will be fragmented.

The amount of time that defragmentation takes depends on several factors.

- The size of the volume
- The number and size of files on the volume
- The amount of fragmentation
- The available local system resources

To defrag your hard disk drive, follow these steps:

1. To start, click Windows key + E then click This PC. Right-click on the drive that you wish to
scan - most commonly this will be your C: Drive or D: Drive - then click Properties.
2. Click the Tools tab and then click Optimize. If your PC thinks everything is okay the analyze
button is inactive. You don't need to optimize your drive.

Rules in defragmenting a drive:

• You should analyze volumes before defragmenting them. This tells you whether you need to
take the time to defragment them.
• A volume must have at least 15% free space for Disk Defragmenter to completely and
adequately
• defragment it. Disk Defragmenter uses this space as a sorting area for file fragments. If a volume
• has less than 15% free space, Disk Defragmenter will only partially defragment it. To increase
the
• free space on a volume, delete unneeded files or move them to another disk.
• You cannot defragment volumes that the file system has marked as dirty, which indicates
possible corruption. You must run chkdsk on a dirty volume before you can defragment it. You

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 can • determine if a volume is dirty by using the fsutil dirty query command. For more
information
• about chkdsk and fsutil dirty
• You can defragment only local file system volumes, and you can run only one instance of Disk
Defragmenter at a time.
• To interrupt or temporarily stop defragmenting a volume, click Stop or Pause, respectively

BACK-UP FILES

ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM
Keeping your computer safe from viruses is extremely important, especially if your computer
connects to the Internet. Antivirus software can help you keep your computer safe, but only if you
keep its virus definitions up to date. Use the steps on this page to make sure the antivirus program
has the newest information about viruses that might infect your computer.

You can check virus protection state by accessing Security and Maintenance feature on your system,
follow these steps:
1. Go to Start > Click on Control Panel > System and Security > System.
2. In the System window, locate “Security and Maintenance” option at the lower left corner, and
then click on it.
3. Select “Security” heading to display recent messages and then click on it.
4. Follow the prompts to resolve any detected issues.

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MALWARE DETECTION

Malware, short for malicious software, is a blanket term for viruses, worms, trojans and other
harmful computer programs hackers use to wreak destruction and gain access to sensitive
information.

A worm is a standalone piece of malicious software that reproduces itself and spreads from
computer to computer.

A virus is a piece of computer code that inserts itself within the code of another standalone
program, then forces that program to take malicious action and spread itself.

A trojan is a program that cannot reproduce itself but masquerades as something the user wants
and tricks them into activating it so it can do its damage and spread.

Another way to categorize malware is by what it does once it has successfully infected its victim's
computers. There are a wide range of potential attack techniques used by malware:
• Spyware is defined by Webroot Cybersecurity as "malware used for the purpose of secretly
gathering data on an unsuspecting user." In essence, it spies on your behavior as you use your
computer, and on the data, you send and receive, usually with the purpose of sending that
information to a third party. A keylogger is a specific kind of spyware that records all the
keystrokes a user makes—great for stealing passwords.
• A rootkit is, as described by TechTarget, "a program or, more often, a collection of software
tools that gives a threat actor remote access to and control over a computer or other system."
It gets its name because it's a kit of tools that (generally illicitly) gain root access (administrator-
level control, in Unix terms) over the target system, and use that power to hide their presence.
• Adware is malware that forces your browser to redirect to web advertisements, which often
themselves seek to download further, even more malicious software. As The New York Times
notes, adware often piggybacks onto tempting "free" programs like games or browser
extensions.

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• Ransomware is a flavor of malware that encrypts your hard drive's files and demands a
payment, usually in Bitcoin, in exchange for the decryption key. Several high-profile malware
outbreaks of the last few years, such as Petya, are ransomware. Without the decryption key, it's
mathematically impossible for victims to regain access to their files. So-called scareware is a
sort of shadow version of ransomware; it claims to have taken control of your computer and
demands a ransom but is just using tricks like browser redirect loops to make it seem as if it's
done more damage than it really has, and unlike ransomware can be relatively easily disabled.
• Crypto jacking is another way attackers can force you to supply them with Bitcoin—only it
works without you necessarily knowing. The crypto mining malware infects your computer and
uses your CPU cycles to mine Bitcoin for your attacker's profit. The mining software may run in
the background on your operating system or even as JavaScript in a browser window.
• Malvertising is the use of legitimate ads or ad networks to covertly deliver malware to
unsuspecting users’ computers. For example, a cybercriminal might pay to place an ad on a
legitimate website. When a user clicks on the ad, code in the ad either redirects them to a
malicious website or installs malware on their computer. In some cases, the malware embedded
in an ad might execute automatically without any action from the user, a technique referred to
as a “drive-by download.”

Any specific piece of malware has both a means of infection and a behavioral category. So, for
instance, WannaCry is a ransomware worm. And a particular piece of malware might have different
forms with different attack vectors: for instance, the Emotet banking malware has been spotted in
the wild as both a trojan and a worm.

Malwarebytes, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware Programs. These multiple programs
together with the Anti-virus Program help to clear most problems from a computer system.

ASSIGNMENT
LET’S ANALYZE
TASK A: Watch the video lesson on how to remove malware from your computer. Write a narrative
report about how to remove malware.

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO1-9ZRCXok