PC Maintenance and Improving Performance:
Once you bring your personal computer home
from the store or receive it in the mail
there is no one around to offer basic
personal computer maintenance tips for
cleaning up and improving performance of
your computer. Maintenance and cleaning up
of your PC should be part of a regular
routine to ensure that you don't have any
long-term problems with the computer.
Unfortunately most basic computer users may
not understand the mechanics of a computer
or may feel intimidated with the maintenance.
There are really simple steps anyone can
take to ensure that your computer will
continue working at the level it did when
you first pulled it out of the box.
One of the first files to become acquainted
with on your computer is the System Tools,
located under the Start Menu, then Programs,
and Accessories. The System Tools houses
basic maintenance tools like Disk
Defragmenter, Disk Cleanup, Backup,
Scheduled Tasks, and System Information and
Scandisk on some Microsoft Windows computers.
Strange that these files are located in
Accessories because they really are the key
to keeping your system running correctly and
helping to improve performance as the
computer ages.
On a regular basis you want to go to My
Computer and then right click on the Local
Disk (C Drive) and open up the Properties.
This allows you to see how much space you
are using and how much you have left to use
on your computer. Under Tools in this area
you can usually perform a scan of the disk.
If you cannot run a disk scan from here,
your Microsoft should have a disk scan
available under the System Tools.
It is
important to run this disk scan to determine
if there are any errors or problems running
on your computer and the disk scan will
repair those potential problems. Some
experts recommend doing a thorough disk
scans the first time and then a basic disk
scan up to once a week to keep your computer
performing at top conditions.
After this it is important to regularly
perform a disk cleanup, which is located
either under Properties under the C Drive,
or under System Tools. Be aware that both
the disk scan and the disk cleanup can take
quite a bit of time and it is best to before
these maintenance tools when you will not be
using the computer. Set a routine with
yourself like performing the disk clean up
and disk scan on Saturday night while you
are watching movies with your family.
After a disk cleanup, it also helps to regularly
perform a disk defragmentation.A computer
hard drive will begin to fragment over time,
which means that programs that once worked
in conjunction have become separated over
time and may not be in the proper place to
work well on your computer.
This can slow
down processes or make using certain
programs difficult. Using the disk
defragmenter can pull together those pieces
again and return things to working order.
Basic maintenance routines that will ensure
your computer runs at peak performance start
with simply getting rid of files you do not
use. If you have old word documents,
software programs you have not used in a
long time, or pictures and music you are not
using, delete them from your computer.
Remember that once you delete them, they do
not automatically disappear, but instead go
to the recycle bin and it is just as
important to empty the recycle bin as it is
to delete old files.
Old internet files can also cause your
computer to slow down. Often with a Disk
Cleanup there will be an opportunity for you
to get rid of temporary internet files, but
you can also get rid of them on your own by
going to your Temporary Internet files in
Microsoft Explorer.
Click on Tools then
Internet Options, General Tab, Temporary
Internet Files, and Delete Files. As well,
take time to clean out any other temporary
files you may have acquired, like downloads
from the internet. Depending on the model of
your computer, the temporary files could be
in different locations, but most often when
you go to Disk Cleanup and scan there will
be an option to get rid of temporary files
as well.
One of the other helpful and easy ways to
maintain your computer's performance is to
always run your protection programs, use a
personal firewall when accessing the
computer, and always install software
updates available for Microsoft and
protection programs. Keeping up on regular
maintenance and setting a routine for
updates on the computer will ensure that
your computer performs the way it was
intended to when you first brought it home.
