Most small business owners don’t know much about basic computer maintenance and as a result, their PCs slow down or crash. The real issue is neglect: failing to update security patches and antivirus software, overloading the system with trial software or running five toolbars at once in Internet Explorer.
Of course, many small business owners don’t know much about cars either, but they know to give it gas, change the oil every so often and take it to a mechanic for check-ups. It’s the same with PCs. You don’t need to be an expert to keep your PC in relatively good condition. You just need to perform a little basic PC maintenance and, more importantly, be observant and proactive.
1. CLEAN YOUR COMPUTER. Literally!
Static electricity makes computers a magnet for dust, dirt, and debris. With all the crevices that come with keyboards and processing units, dust can be tough to reach, and it may gather for months before you even notice a problem. These particles aren’t just unsanitary; they also clog up your cooling fans and keyboard, two of the most important moving parts of your machine.
HERE’S HOW:
Buy cans of compressed air at any office supply store or for a more eco-friendly solution, you can purchase an anti-static vacuum. Each month, spray the compressed air making sure you blow away EVERYTHING that is not screwed down. Don’t let more than a month go by without doing this important task. Even if you can’t see the dust at a glance, it’s in there.
2. DO A FULL SCAN FOR MALWARE. Set it and forget it overnight.
Software maintenance can get complicated, but one of the easiest ways to take care of your system is to run conventional virus protection and spyware detection software. Mainstream programs will safely run as background processes, protecting your computer whenever you have it on.
HERE’S HOW:
Every week, you should open up your virus protection software and manually run a full scan for viruses and spyware.
3. UNINSTALL ANY PROGRAMS YOU DON’T USE.
If you’re fortunate enough to keep your computer running for many years, you’ll gather all sorts of programs that you may have needed at one time or another. Sometimes you may not remember or even realize that you’ve installed them. Eventually, you’ll find that you do not even recognize, let alone use, all of the programs installed on your computer. Each one of them, however, is taking up memory and processing time, so cleaning out your system will make some room for new programs and speed up your computer too.
Audit your applications once a month. When your machine was brand new it came pre-loaded with numerous pieces of trial software. This could be games, security suites, even full blown applications like QuickBooks or Microsoft Office. Many people never install these. Others have, but decided not to purchase them at the end of the trial. Yet they remain on the system, wasting space and bloating the Windows Registry. Over time, this can lead to performance problems, causing Windows to become sluggish and unreliable.
HERE’S HOW:
To uninstall programs go to Control Panel and select Programs and Features to show a list of all programs installed on your computer.
4. CREATE A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT. It’s all about the “back-up plan!”
Before you install any new software on your system, always create a System Restore point. Some software can play havoc to your system causing all sorts of strange problems. A System Restore Point helps you restore your computer’s system files to an earlier point in time when your system was working well.
It’s a safe way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents or photos. Having a system restore point can significantly reduce your downtime. Plus, this functionality is built right into Windows so there is really no reason not to do it.
HERE’S HOW
To create a system restore point go to Control Panel and select Backup and Restore. Windows 7 users click “Recover system settings or your computer”. Vista users select “Create a restore point or change settings.”
5. DEFRAGMENT YOUR HARD DRIVE. Say what???
In order to help maintain the integrity of your data there are two hard drive tests that you should run at least once a month. The first is to Defragment your hard drive. Over the course of regular use, your files get fragmented or spread out all over your hard drive. So while an MP3 or WMV file appears as a single file to you in Windows Explorer, small pieces of the file could literally be spread across the entire hard drive.
Gathering all of these distant pieces back together into a single contiguous file makes file access faster. Depending on how fragmented the data on your drive is, defragmenting it could make your system noticeably faster.
The other test we are going to perform is a Check Disk. This tool checks hard disk volumes for problems and attempts to repair any that it finds. For example, it can repair problems related to bad sectors, lost clusters, cross-linked files and directory errors. Disk errors are a common source of difficult-to-track problems, and running this test regularly can significantly reduce your risk of problems.
HERE’S HOW:
Windows has a built-in defragmenter and check-disk utility. To access either of them just open Windows Explorer and right-click on the drive you want to examine. Select Properties and then click on the Tools tab. To defragment your HD go to the Defragmentation section and press the Defragment now button. To perform a check disk, go to the Error-checking section and press the Check now button.
You don’t need to be a computer expert to keep your computer running well. Resolving these issues doesn’t have anything to do with understanding computers. It has to do with paying attention to what you’re doing and actually reading those messages that popup on screen during an installation. Just follow these basic steps, and I guarantee you’ll computer will be safer and far more reliable.
Computers play a vital role in your daily life and you can use a PC to do many things, for example, surf the Internet, watch movies, play games, deal with work, etc. PC maintenance is very important to ensure your computer runs smoothly.
If you have ever lost important files due to hard drive crash, spending much time in removing a nasty virus or frying a CPU since you didn’t clean the fan, perhaps you clearly know why you need to maintain your computer.
Prevention is better than cure! If you take some time to perform some basic PC maintenance tasks, you can not only make sure the machine has optimal performance but also lengthen the device’s lifespan. Otherwise, the few minutes that you didn’t spend on desktop/laptop maintenance could become hours of unnecessary work in the future.
Now, let’s look at the computer maintenance steps that you should do on a regular basis and how to do them effectively. Firstly, you should know its types.
Types of Computer Maintenance
When it comes to how to maintain a computer, you should consider this case: both hardware and software of your PC should be maintained since they are important and will have a decisive impact on the operation of the system. So, computer maintenance is related to them.
Besides, there are four types of PC maintenance and here is everything you should know about it.
1. Predictive Maintenance
This refers to using a diagnostic tool to anticipate possible failures and avoid some possible issues. And one common way is monitoring your computer system and checking whether it works properly. This tool can control and inform you of battery levels, the temperature of the CPU, and other features.
2. Preventive Maintenance
This type is common and it is carried out to prevent possible failures, improve the function of a system and prolong the life of various computer components. Preventive maintenance is useful since it can detect weak points in the system, decrease the system downtime and reduce the number of repairs.
Preventive software maintenance usually includes scanning and cleaning through antivirus, the creation of backups freeing-up of your disk space and RAM. The preventive hardware maintenance should refer to the periodic cleaning of equipment and its components.
3. Corrective Maintenance
If the previous two types don’t work and a problem occurred, you should perform this maintenance. In addition to solving the failure problems, you should find the cause and prevent it from happening again.
4. Evolutionary maintenance
The last type is to develop the system of your computer so it can perform more efficiently. This type concerns both hardware and software, so you can update Windows and change various parts of the PC for better performance.
Computer Maintenance Tips
Now you have clearly known the detailed description of types of computer maintenance. In the following part, some useful tips are offered to you and all of them belong to one of these types. Here is the computer maintenance checklist.
1. Clean Your Computer
If dust is on your computer, it looks gross and the PC will trap heat reducing its performance and lifespan. So, you can open the case (for a desktop) and blow the dust out. Besides, use a damp cloth to wipe the case. For a desktop, don’t forget the monitor.
Additionally, dust can clog up your cooling fans and keyboard. So, you should also clean them. A compressed air canister is helpful. Moreover, don’t neglect ports and crevices of a laptop and desktop.
2. Don’t Block the Vents
Like people, machines also need to breathe. So, don’t block the vent, which aims to ensure your computer can remain cool enough to work properly.
3. Keep Your Food and Drink Away from PCs
Don’t eat and drink over your laptop or desktop since the consequence is serious. For example, your keyboard can be destroyed after a single spill or food residues penetrate the case of your device and damage the internal components.
4. Don’t Overcharge Your Battery
Don’t keep your device plugged in at all times. This is because unnecessary charging can retard the regenerative capability of the battery. And the ability to hold a charge can drop off a year later. Usually, you can make a setting for your laptop to let it not charge when reaching 20%.
Note: Sometimes you find your PC is plugged in but not charging. This is caused by your settings.
5. Create a Backup for Your Important Files and System
As a computer owner, the most important thing you can do is to back up the important data stored on your hard drive. This tip is also a vital part of regular personal computer maintenance since unexpected hard drive failure, serious computer problems, viruses, etc. can cause data loss. Besides, system also crashes and cannot boot.
Thus, create a backup now.
If you don’t know how to do this work, you can ask our professional, reliable and free PC backup software for help - MiniTool ShadowMaker.
As an all-in-one backup software, it is designed to back up the Windows operating system, files & folders, disks and partitions on a regular basis. Differential and incremental backup are supported. In addition, file sync and disk clone can be realized by this software.
Now, get MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition to start a backup from the following button. Note that this edition only gives you a 30-day free trial. To use it all the time, get its Pro Edition from MiniTool Store.
1. Launch this software.
2. Go to the Backup page, click Source and choose files that you want to back up.
3. Click Destination to choose a target path that can be a USB flash drive, external hard drive, SSD, etc.
4. Finally, click Back up Now to immediately start the file backup.
Tip: To ensure your PC can restore to its previous state in case system crashes in the future, we recommend you to create a system image. By default, MiniTool ShadowMaker selects system drives to back up. For more information, refer to this post - A Guide to Use Best Ghost Image Software to Ghost Windows 10/8/7.
6. Run Antivirus and Malware Scans Regularly
This computer maintenance tip should go without saying but we say it anyway. Any computer should have conventional virus protection and spyware detection software to monitor the system for threats in real time and remove them to keep the PC safe.
In Windows 10, Windows Defender can offer you real-time virus & threat prevention, account protection, firewall & network protection, etc.
Alternatively, you can install an antivirus or anti-malware program on your computer, for example, Malwarebytes or Avast. Just run such a tool to perform a full scan for viruses, spyware, malware, etc.
7. Always Run Your Firewall
Windows Firewall in the operating system is the first line of defense against malware. It can filter some information from the Internet and block potentially harmful programs from installing. This tool should always be running. It is pretty useful when you install new apps from a third-party source other than the manufacturer or developer.
Just go to Control Panel, click Windows Defender Firewall > Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off and ensure the Firewall is enabled.
8. Uninstall Programs You Don’t Use
When using a computer for a long time, you may have installed all sorts of programs. Sometimes you may forget or not realize you have installed them. These programs slow down your computer over time and take much disk space. Even some run in the background and eat up the system resource.
So, you should uninstall unnecessary programs. To do this work, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features to the app list. Then, right-click each program to choose the Uninstall option.
Tip: Sometimes uninstalling programs via Control Panel couldn’t completely remove the apps. This article - How to Remove Remnants of Uninstalled Software? Try These Ways is helpful for you.
9. Update Windows System and Programs
One of the best ways to make sure your PC is at the best state is to keep your operating system up-to-date. For the Windows system, Microsoft always keeps rolling out updates and security patches to improve the overall user experience.
You can go to Windows Update, check for available updates and restart the PC to install them. Besides, ensure you install the latest driver software.
Additionally, you should update critical programs. Just go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest version of your program to install.
10. Clean Your Disk
As time goes on, your PC is filled with a large amount of unnecessary information including temporary files, thumbnails, web pages, old Windows installation, and more others. Much disk space is occupied and the PC may turn slow.
Cleaning your disk is an excellent computer maintenance tip. In Windows, you can ask Disk Cleanup for help. If you are using Windows 10, you can go to Settings > System > Storage to delete temporary files.
11. Use a Disk Space Analysis Tool
To keep your PC clean and free from un-required data, understanding what is on your computer is helpful. A disk space analysis tool can scan your PC and show you all your data.
Here you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard since it offers a feature called Space Analyzer to scan your disk, let you know what is taking up your space, and easily and intuitively display the result.
12. Clean Your PC System
To ensure your PC stays fast and junk-free, you can use a PC cleaning tool to clean some files like cache, logs, fragments, temporary files, etc. from the Windows system since these files can take up much space, cause software errors and slow down the system.
CCleaner is one of the most excellent PC cleaning tools and it can clean junk files wonderfully.
13. Use a CPU and GPU Temperature Monitoring Tool
As is well known, PC overheating can be a really serious problem since it can cause data corruption and PC components permanent damage. In your computer, CPU and GPU are the parts that are easy to be heating. Keeping an eye on the temperature will help you keep them cool if needed.
So, using a CPU and GPU temperature monitoring tool can be a good computer maintenance step. HWMonitor is recommendable.
Tip: In addition to these PC maintenance tips, there are some other tips you can try – use a hard drive health monitoring tool like CrystalDiskInfo, free up space With cloud storage solutions, shut down your PC properly, be careful with unfamiliar WiFi networks, etc.
“How to maintain a computer? Here is the computer maintenance checklist and you can perform these tasks to let the PC be at the best state.”Click to tweet
The End
After reading this post, you clearly know what types of computer maintenance are and how to maintain a computer to ensure it can run smoothly. Just do by following the desktop/aptop maintenance checklist above.
If you have any other tips on maintaining your PC, please tell us by leaving a comment in the following part or sending an email to . Besides, let us know if you have a question when using MiniTool software.
Vera Follow us
Position: Columnist
Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 5 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.