subject: Understanding Preventative Computer Maintenance [print this page] Preventative computer maintenance saves time and money when performed regularly. By following a few simple steps regularly, the computer will perform more efficiently and prevent unnecessary trips to the repair shop or lost data. It isn't necessary to be a computer expert to perform these basic actions and when performed regularly, it is possible to anticipate most problems before they rear their ugly heads.
Defragmentation
When files are used, they become broken up into smaller parts and scattered around the hard drive. Eventually, the hard drive needle has trouble keeping up and needs to jump around to find all the parts of a file. When one or two files are fragmented it isn't a big deal. However, when several files become fragmented it becomes harder for the hard drive to keep up. Defragmentation puts all the files back together as close as possible to each other. This helps to prevent the need for the needle to jump all over.
Clean Up
Often duplicate files start to clutter up the hard drive, reducing the amount of space available for new files. When this happens, using a disk cleanup utility can help to restore free space and even speed up the hard drive. As a hard drive reaches capacity, the system begins to slow down. The reasons for this are varied, but the important thing is that keeping at least 10 percent of the hard drive free of files improves performance. It also makes it easier to search for and find documents, pictures and other valuable media.
Backup
Backup the computer regularly to ensure that files don't get lost in an outage or hardware failure. The most sensible option is to purchase an online backup solution. Backing up your files to the cloud makes it possible to prevent them from getting lost due to fire, flood or Doomsday Apocalypse. While physical backups on an external drive may provide modest protection, online backups provide an extra layer of security. Online backup companies use encryption technology to protect your files and backup to more than one location to ensure that the backup isn't lost due to a failing server.
Antivirus, Spyware and Malware
One of the most important aspects of computer maintenance involves ensuring that the proper computer security protection is enabled. Users that use a wireless connection generally don't need a software firewall since the wireless router acts as a firewall. However, it doesn't hurt to turn the default system firewall on anyway. The biggest threats to computer users involve virus, spyware and malware. These are all different types of threats that harm and collect information on the computer in different ways. Having a complete security suite that protects you from viruses, spyware and malware is the best option to ensure computer safety.
