Our computer systems are a fundamental part of our daily lives, meaning it’s important to perform routine maintenance to improve their health and prolong their lifespan.
Conducting regular maintenance checks on your computer can prevent little issues from growing into more serious problems.
Computers are complicated systems which means that small problems can occur at any time, even when your PC is fairly new. By conducting regular maintenance sessions you can eradicate any future issues which are more likely to happen when your computer gets older.
If maintained properly, your computer could last up to eight years. However, if not maintained properly, you could significantly reduce its lifespan as the PC can begin to erode faster than intended. This is why creating a checklist for computer maintenance is so crucial.
Regular computer maintenance involves providing your computer with frequent cleanings, hard drive updates, and virus prevention. By offering your PC this, you can lengthen the lifespan of your computer. On top of this, it also helps you browse the web more safely.
This blog provides some practical computer maintenance tips
External Computer Health Checklist
Firstly, you must take care of the hardware of your computer by looking after its external factors. Here is a checklist for external computer maintenance.
Declutter Your Cables
By tidying up and decluttering your computer’s cables, you can prevent them from getting damaged. Organize your cables so that they are separated from one another and kept out of the way of your desktop. A build-up of cables from our devices such as printers, Wi-Fi routers, and cameras can cause chaos on your desktop.
Your cables can avoid breakage or other forms of damage by keeping them neat, and out of the way of your devices. There are a variety of ways to keep your cables organized, such as using cable boxes, cable sleeves, or cable ties. All of these methods can be purchased for a fairly affordable price and can make a huge difference to your cable organization.
Remove Dust and Particles From Your Mouse
Your mouse requires regular maintenance to keep it functioning properly, this includes dusting it.
The best method of doing this is to unplug the mouse and flip it upside down.
Next, you need to remove the bottom panel of the mouse and clean the ball with a cloth. For extra care, you can put rubbing alcohol on the cloth for a more thorough cleaning. You should wait for the call to dry before putting the bottom panel back on.
Wipe Down the Monitor
Your monitor can easily collect fingerprints and different types of stains over time if not properly wiped down regularly. At least once a week you should be using a microfiber cleaning cloth to wipe your monitor, keeping it fresh and clean. You can do this by gently wiping it in long motions without pushing down too hard as this may cause damage.
Dust Your Keyboard Using Compressed Air
Research has found that the average desktop and keyboard hold more bacteria than a toilet seat. For this reason, your desktop and keyboard need to be cleaned frequently. Once a week you should be dusting your keyboard and desktop with a dry cloth.
For harder-to-reach spots, like in between the keyboard keys, use a compressed air canister.
Internal Routine Maintenance For Computers
Next, it is also crucial that you take care of the software of your computer by looking after its internal factors. Here is a computer tuneup checklist for internal computer maintenance.
Keep Up to Date
Updates are essential for protecting your device against any issues. You need to keep your computer streamlined with any new updates. This also includes updating your third-party software, especially your antivirus software.
Most antivirus software provides frequent updates that help to enhance features as well as keep up to date in its database of malware to ensure it can detect the latest cyber threats.
To help keep up to date, you could enable automatic updates on your computer so that you don’t need to regularly remember to update the computer.
Empty Browser Files
Emptying unnecessary browser files enables the freeing up of memory on your computer. On top of this, it also helps to protect your data.
By emptying browser files, you have the opportunity to remove cookies that could potentially be tracking your online behavior. These cookies are not something you want on your computer.
Usually, you will be able to easily locate an option for emptying your browsing data in the browser menu. For instance, if you are using Google Chrome, simply select the ‘clear browsing data’ option from the top menu dropdowns.
Shut Down Your Computer Regularly
Closing down or rebooting your computer regularly can help to refresh your system resources. As a result, you are allowing your computer to run more smoothly.
If your computer is an older model, you need to be shutting down your device properly every night to avoid it from overheating. For newer computers, consider shutting it down once a day instead of leaving it in sleep mode.
Backup Your Data
Around once a week you need to be backing up your drive. If you’re working on something significant each day that needs protection then you should do this daily to ensure your files are securely saved. Backing up your data saves critical files in case of a hard drive failure or computer crash.
Valuable Computer System Maintenance Method
Whilst there are many routine computer maintenance methods you can tick off your maintenance checklist, the best way to maintain the health of your computer is to invest in a professional maintenance solution
For the best computer maintenance solution, you should invest in iolo’s System Mechanic software. With this useful maintenance software, the first level of performance optimization is ActiveCare. This level of performance runs a series of processes whenever your PC is idle.
ActiveCare repairs dozens of hard drive, registry, and security errors, stabilizing and decluttering your PC for the very best overall system health. With this in mind, iolo’s System Mechanic software is a brilliant and reliable method of routine computer maintenance.
