WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:08.610 --> 00:00:12.330 In order to keep Windows 7 running smoothly, you're going to want to check the Action Center 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:16.740 from time to time to manage your computer's Security and Maintenance. 00:00:16.740 --> 00:00:21.529 The shortcut to the Action Center is on the taskbar, and it's this small flag icon. 00:00:21.529 --> 00:00:26.160 The red "X" symbol means that there are important messages that we need to address. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:30.590 Let's open the Action Center to view the details. 00:00:30.590 --> 00:00:36.969 You can also get to the Action Center through the Control Panel, under "System and Security." 00:00:36.969 --> 00:00:42.540 All of your Security and Maintenance messages are listed here, and the two red items are 00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:44.980 the important messages. 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:50.060 This means that this computer is vulnerable to viruses or other malicious software. 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:53.910 The Action Center makes it easy to fix these problems: just click the button on the right 00:00:53.910 --> 00:00:59.600 side of the message. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.530 We're going to want to take care of all of the red items now, and the yellow one can 00:01:03.530 --> 00:01:08.360 wait until later because it's less urgent. 00:01:08.360 --> 00:01:13.100 So now the red "X" symbol has disappeared from the flag icon, and we just have one message 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:19.140 left, and it's about setting up Windows Backup, which we can choose to do now or later. 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:22.320 But maybe we're planning to use a different program for backups and we'd rather not see 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:27.170 this message anymore. We can click "Turn off messages about Windows Backup," and it's going 00:01:27.170 --> 00:01:29.830 to hide all backup-related messages. 00:01:29.830 --> 00:01:36.150 If we want to turn those messages back on, we can go to "Change Action Center settings," 00:01:36.150 --> 00:01:39.549 and we can check the Windows Backup box. 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:43.150 You can uncheck any of these if you don't want to receive those messages, but keep in 00:01:43.150 --> 00:01:47.600 mind that if you uncheck any of the Security messages, you could make your computer less 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:52.030 secure. 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:58.700 Now we're going to look at the User Account Control Settings. 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:02.420 User Account Control adds another layer of security to your computer by notifying you 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:06.840 when a program or user is trying to make changes to your computer. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:10.939 In previous versions of Windows, some users complained about the high number of pop-up 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:15.730 messages, and in Windows 7, you can control how often you will receive these messages 00:02:15.730 --> 00:02:18.420 by using this slider. 00:02:18.420 --> 00:02:22.790 To get the most security, you should use one of the top two settings, and the other two 00:02:22.790 --> 00:02:26.400 are not recommended and should only be used in special circumstances. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.870 If you're not sure which one to use, just use the top setting, and you can always bring 00:02:30.870 --> 00:02:37.720 it back down later if you find that you're getting too many pop-up messages. 00:02:37.720 --> 00:02:42.810 So when we click "OK," User Account Control notifies us that this program here is trying 00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:44.750 to make a change to our computer. 00:02:44.750 --> 00:02:49.360 If this program looked unfamiliar to us, we could click "no" to stop it from making any 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:55.090 changes, but since we recognize it, we'll click "yes." 00:02:55.090 --> 00:02:59.770 Remember to use caution when changing the Action Center and User Account Control settings. 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:03.920 You can adjust the settings to receive fewer pop-up messages, but there can be a tradeoff 00:03:03.920 --> 00:03:10.920 between convenience and security.