49 Tips

Computer Maintenance Tips

Submitted By: marc abraham in Computer Tips category

Computer maintenance tips Wondering what happened to your dear computer? Why is it not working properly? well, the actual problem is that you bought it with utmost care but forgot to maintain it! Yes, that’s true .

Just look at it –have you clogged its vents with files? Is the keyboard dusty? Is everything OK

with your mouse?

Still clueless? OK what about its speed? Is it still the same as a new computer?

Probably you just want the answers and not all these questions. I have enlisted below some of the tips for maintaining your computer’s health which will keep your computer in perfect health.

We have basically divided the computer into visible and invisible parts. First we deal with tips on visible parts.

Cleaning the mouse: If your mouse is sticking during use then it is time for clean up. Simply follow step by step instructions –

Take a soft tissue and put some cleaning fluid on it.
Unplug your mouse from PC.
Notice a removable cover under mouse.
Turn it in anticlockwise direction and remove it.
Take the ball out and wipe away all the dust from it.
Notice three rollers in its casing.
Clean them up with tissue/fingernails.
Put the ball back.
Replace the cover turning it clockwise.
Plug it back to PC.

Cleaning the monitor : Dust, fingerprints, small particles all can make your monitor look really bad. Don’t just pick up that spray and use it directly on your screen! Wait and follow step by step.

Take a soft cloth like the one we use for cleaning eye glasses, discard paper tissue or any paper item as it can put scratches.
Ensure that your PC/laptop is disconnected /turned off.
Read the instructions which came with your PC or laptop.
Simply use distilled water and put moderately on the cloth.
Don’t spray water directly on screen.
Wipe the screen slowly in horizontal lines.
Ensure that the monitor is completely dry before starting it again.

Cleaning the keyboard: Here are a few tips to clean the keyboard effectively.

Remove the PC from mains.
Unplug keyboard.
Hold it upside down and use a vacuum cleaner.
Put cleaning fluids on cotton buds and clean the sides of keys.
Now wipe it with a clean cloth.

Now we move on to invisible part like hard drive (of course if you have not opened up the computer)and virus.

De-fragment of hard drive: It is actually a process of rejoining the split files back into the consecutive pieces (These files were split by computer when it could not find enough storage space for the entire file/document at one place , so it fragments it and stores it at different places) now this is responsible for slow rate of computer. Running scan disk and defragment once a month ensures the health of yourhard drive. Here is how to do it—

Go to my computer.
Right click the local disk icon.
Go to properties.
Single click tools tab
Click defragment button.
In windows XP—go to start.
Go to all programs.
Go to accessories.
Go to system tools.
Go to disk defragment.
In windows 98—select the drive you want to defrag(usually C:)
Click OK button.

Preventing your computer from virus/malware/spyware:

Go for a weekly virus scan.
Run a PC health scan after a virus scan.
Check if your virus protection software is updated.
Choose those virus protection soft wares which come with an automatic update option.
Use free online virus checker like Housecall by trend micro.

Hope all these tips were useful for you. Always keep in mind basic things like using a UPS, using back ups, never unplugging the peripherals from computer when it is on and never ,never turning off your computer with the power switch if the windows has not shut down. Happy maintaining !

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