TEACHING PHYSICS USING COMPUTER

As a physics teacher at a school,I was concerned that our undergraduates weren't learning to do physics with computers. Interactive teaching is a superior method of physics instruction, and computer tools are a significant part of the interactive teacher's tool box. A thorough knowledge of available hardware and software, along with ways to effectively use them, is a prerequisite to superior teaching. Hundreds of software programs are available for hands-on learning of physics. Inexpensive laboratory interfaces acquire data in real time and display the results in powerful presentations. Presently, few universities are using these new teaching resources.

HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR COMPUTER

CLEANING SPYWARE AND ADWARE

1. Search and destroy spyware and/or adware or viruses on your PC.

2. There is a myriad of tools available to do this. Anti Virus is a good one to use.

USING DISK CLEANUP

To use Windows Disk Cleanup program:
1. Double-click the My Computer icon. The My Computer window opens.
2. Right-click the hard drive that you want to delete files from, then select Properties. The System Properties dialog box opens at the General tab.

3. Click Disk Cleanup. The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens.
4. Select the check box beside each file type you want to delete. For more information about file types you can delete, read the descriptions in the Disk Cleanup dialog box.
5. Click OK, then click Yes.

DEFRAGMENTING THE HARD DRIVE

The Disk Defragmenter program organizes the data on the drive so that each file is stored as one unit rather than multiple pieces scattered across different areas of the drive. Defragmenting the information stored on the drive can improve hard drive performance.
To run Disk Defragmenter:
1. Double-click the My Computer icon. The My Computer window opens.
2. Right-click the hard drive that you want to defragment, then select Properties. The System Properties dialog box opens.
3. Click the Tools tab.

4. Click Defragment Now.
5. If Disk Defragmenter does not start automatically, click Start or Defragment.
6. Disk Defragmenter shows its progress on the screen. When finished, Disk Defragmenter asks if you want to quit the program.
7. If you want to defragment another drive, click No then follow the on-screen instructions.
- OR -
If you do not want to defragment another drive, click Yes.

SCAN THE VIRUSES IN COMPUTER

To scan for viruses:
1. Click Start, then select Programs, Norton AntiVirus, then Norton AntiVirus. Norton AntiVirus opens.
2. Click Scan for Viruses.
3. Select the type of scan you want to make in the Scan area, then click Run Scan Now.