PC Maintenance

By Jeanne Conlon

PC Maintenance

• "Take good care of your PC, and it will take good care of you.“

• It's a nice sentiment, but reality is more like "Take good care of your PC, and it won't crash, lose your data, and cost you your job--probably." Follow these steps to stop PC problems before they stop you.

PC Maintenance

• Your PC's two mortal enemies are heat and moisture. • Excess heat accelerates the deterioration of the

delicate circuits in your system. • The most common causes of overheating are dust and

dirt • Clogged vents and CPU cooling fans can keep heat-

dissipating air from moving through the case • A thin coating of dust or dirt can raise the temperature

of your machine's components • The residue of cigarette smoke, can corrode exposed

metal contacts

- Heat & Moisture

PC Maintenance

• Check around your PC for anything nearby that could raise its temperature (such as a heating duct or sunshine coming through a window)

• Always turn off and unplug the system before you clean any of its components

• Never apply any liquid directly to a component. Spray or pour the liquid on a lint-free cloth, and wipe the PC with the cloth

- Outside the Box

PC Maintenance

• Clean the case – Wipe the case and clear its

ventilation ports of any obstructions – Compressed air is great for this, but

don't blow dust into the PC or its optical and floppy drives

- Outside the Box

PC Maintenance

• Maintain your mechanical mouse • Keep a neat keyboard • Make your monitor sparkle

• Many LCDs can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol

• Check your power protection

- Outside the Box

PC Maintenance

• Spray components with a blast of compressed air to loosen dust

• Use PC vacuum to remove the loosened dust• Use antistatic wipes to remove remaining dust

from inside the case • Avoid touching any circuit-board surfaces • If the expansion cards are exceptionally dirty,

remove each card, clean its contacts with isopropyl alcohol

- Inside the Box

PC Maintenance

• Clean and compact the local mailboxes • Deep-clean the "Temporary Files" areas • Back up all user files • Set your antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall

to check automatically for updates at least once a day.

• Install any Windows critical updates• Defrag at least the C: drive or partition; and

any other frequently accessed drives or partitions

- Daily Maintenance

PC Maintenance

• Manually verify that all automated daily antivirus, anti-spyware, firewall, and Windows Updates have worked and that all files are current:

• Manually update the security tools that don't auto-update

• Run a whole-disk scan with your AV and anti-spyware tools

• Check and process (usually, that means: discard) any files quarantined by AV, antispyware, firewall, etc

• Clean the Registry • Run Chkdsk to verify the basic health of your hard

drives

- Weekly Maintenance

PC Maintenance

• Check for updates of office-suite tools • Check for new versions/updates/bugfixes of

all other major or frequently used software tools

• Run a complete defrag of all partitions• Create a fresh disk image of the entire C:

partition, plus any other partitions that have had significant activity in the last month

- Monthly Maintenance

PC Maintenance

• Many hardware and software designers humbly assume you want their program running on your PC all the time, so they tell Windows to load the application at startup.

• These programs eat up system resources and make hardware conflicts and compatibility problems more likely.

• To prevent them from launching, just click Start, Run, type msconfig, and press Enter. The programs listed under the Startup tab are set to start along with Windows. Uncheck the box at the left of each undesirable program to prevent it from starting automatically.

- Misc. Maintenance

PC Maintenance

• The above is probably more thorough than most people need. But the steps are there for you to choose from, adapt, and modify as you wish until you have a maintenance schedule that fits your needs perfectly.

• A computer user needs to be serious about maintaining their computer. Preventative maintenance allows computers to run cooler, quieter, and look better. Clean equipment can also prevent you and others from passing germs and becoming ill.

- Summary

PC Maintenance

• http://www.wougnet.org/Support/TechTips/techtip_7.html• http://pcsupport.about.com/od/maintenance/• http://www.windowsitlibrary.com/Content/175/04/1.html• http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/

maintenance.mspx• http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,114030-page,1/

article.html• http://www.helpbytes.co.uk/maintenance.php

- Websites with more info