PC Preventive Maintenance

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

PC Preventive Maintenance

By Eric Henneberque

When was the last time you cleaned out your computer? It’s a dirty world out there and keeping your computer free of unwanted debris is vital to its proper functionality, performance, and longevity. PC maintenance is straightforward and takes just a few minutes if done regularly.

Have you ever looked in the bag after vacuuming? It’s disgusting! The same dust bunnies that get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner get sucked into your computer’s cooling fans.  Over time, that debris builds up and can begin to cause problems. A dirty computer has a much harder time keeping itself cool than a clean computer.

Dust and debris, especially carpet fibers, work like insulation to trap in heat.  When your computer gets too hot, a lot of bad things can happen. Hardware components can start acting erratically, causing the system to crash. Chips and circuitry can burn out, and crucial data can be lost. Even if you manage to avoid one of these scenarios, the excess heat will reduce the lifespan of the computer.

So, what can you do? A qualified technician can make a significant difference in a short period of time. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can do it yourself. In his article “Getting a jump on Windows 7,” James Derk describes the cleaning process:

“Unplug your PC from the wall and wait one minute. Take a digital picture of the back so you know where all the wires go. Then unplug them all and take it outside. Open the case outside and blow the dust out using a can of compressed air. (Try not to turn the can upside down.) Clean the processor, the power supply and all the air intakes. If you are careful, you won’t touch anything; if you do, ground yourself by touching a piece of metal on the outside of the case first.”

Cleaning should be done at least once every six months or so depending on how quickly the dirt builds up.

Ok, so now you have a clean computer, but it’s still running much slower than when it was new. There are many reasons for this performance degradation, and determining the cause could mean spending countless hours sifting through millions of search results.  But take heart, there are a few fairly simple things that you can do to help prevent your computer from slowing down, and possibly even speed it back up.

First, keep you operating system updated. Whether you’re running Windows, Mac, or one of the many Linux distributions, updates that protect your computer and keep things running smoothly are constantly being released. Also, stay current with anti-virus and anti-spyware software. The cost of protection versus the cost of lost time and data for a business makes this no-brainer. If you can’t bring yourself to pay the renewal fees for your home computers, don’t worry; there are plenty of free solutions out there for personal, non-commercial use. One of the best I’ve found is AVG. They have a free version for your home (free.avg.com), and their paid versions are cheaper than McAfee or Norton. However, at about $35, it’s not really worth the risk.

Finally, defrag. Most people have heard the term but have no idea what it is, or how to do it. Think of your hard drive as a file cabinet. When all of your files are in order, you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. But, imagine what would happen if you started adding new information to the open space at the back of the drawer. If it were a brand new account and already in order, you wouldn’t have much problem. But if new information for an existing account was put back there, it’s going to start taking longer when you’re trying to look up that info. That is basically what hard drive fragmentation is. Defragging your hard drive is like reorganizing your file cabinet; all the scattered bits of information get put back together.

Before you defrag, it’s a good idea to clean out all the garbage files that accumulate on the hard drive. To do this in Windows XP, go to the start menu and select “Run.” Type in “cleanmgr” and hit OK. Follow the wizard until it finishes. Vista users simply click on the start button and type “cleanmgr” where it says “Start Search.” 

Running a defrag is pretty simple but time consuming.  For all you Windows XP users; open “My Computer” then right click on your hard drive, left click on the “Tools” tab, click on “Defragment Now”, then click “Defragment.” Vista doesn’t need to be defragged as much. However, the only difference between XP and Vista in this matter is that it’s just “Computer” rather than “My Computer.”

Defragging can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the hard drive, the amount of space being used, and how fragmented the drive is. The best thing to do is to start the defrag and let it run overnight. When you come back to the computer after the defrag is done, it’s a good idea to reboot; maybe you’ll notice the computer taking less time to boot up.

All these things should help keep your computer running cool and smooth.