Computer Maintenance

You may use your computer to keep you up-to-date on bills, or just to keep in touch with friends, but odds are you're not keeping up with keeping it up. Without regular maintenance, you're shortening the life of the computer you use, and improving the odds of having to replace it. Grace Aquino of PC World magazine has some tips to help you make your computer last as long as possible.

Computer Upkeep Schedule

Daily
Make sure your anti-virus software is installed and performing daily scans on your hard drive. That helps keep worms from infecting your machine.

Weekly
Check for updates or patches. Aquino says, "You can do that by going into your operating system and the start button. Then hit all programs and you should be able to find the update and run the update on your computer." This confirms you're working with the most up-to-date tools.

Monthly
Do a disk cleanup. Dump your temp files from your hard drive. This will basically clean up the computer's files, erasing it and starting fresh. Aquino says it will free up space for you to do other things with your computer.

Quarterly
"Defrag" your computer. That will reorganize the files on your hard drive to make accessing them more efficient. It's critical that you remember to back up important files to disk.

Yearly
Clean the computer. Buy an air canister and blow out the junk. Aquino advises, if you take things apart, do not touch the wiring or tiny components.
If your computer stops performing the way it should—and crashes, what can you do? Professional help can be costly. But, sometimes you can fix the problem on your own. "You want to learn to be familiar with the computer, understand its components. Don't be afraid, you know, to read the manual, see how things connect. Don't be afraid to work with it," says computer specialist Brent Myhand.

Quick Fixes

Check your plugs. "Make sure the keyboard is plugged into the keyboard port, not the mouse port," says Myhand.

If you're not getting any power, check your wall outlet. For example, try plugging a lamp in the same outlet...See if it works.

If you hear funny sounds, check the fans inside the computer. If one of the fans is broken, it will cause the computer to overheat.

Make sure to keep your computer clean. It's always a good idea to periodically open the computer case and used compressed air to blow out the dust.

If you decide to download anything, make sure it's compatible with the software that's already there. "It's always good to do a little bit of homework on what you're going to install before you install it," says Myhand.

If you get really stumped, take advantage of the Web. Some sites offer free help, like PCWorld.com and ZDNet.com.

Did You Know?

The Most Common PC Problems Are:

1. PC is slow
2. PC crashes
3. Windows freezes
4. Slow boot up
5. Slow shut down
6. Slow loading programs
7. Unable to run many programs
8. PC restarts by itself

PC Pitstop

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