With Spring just around the corner its time to give your PC a little health checkup.I thought about a few things that everyone should do regularly.
If you dont do them regularly, now is the time to do it.
Make it part of your spring clean to ensure your PC has a longer life.
First things I'd reccomend people do:
Hardware Jobs:
1. Unplug all wiring and, with a cloth, clean connections, back plates, and the computer case itself. Turning the mains socket off is vital as some motherboards still have a small voltage going thruogh them when the PC is switched off.
2. Clean keyboard and mouse and get rid of those marks on the monitor.
Do not use any household kitchen or window cleaners as these can damage computer monitors. CRT monitors can be cleaned with a soft cotton cloth and if needed, a damp cloth with water.
If you own a monitor that has an antiglare surface or other delicate coating, it may require special cleaning fluid. See your manual.
3. A keyboard gets full of gunge so Canned compressed air is useful to dislodge the grime. You can use a Vacuum cleaner, but make sure it has a soft brush and that you dont suck off the keys.
A good way is to spray the compressed air from one direction and have the vacuum cleaner ready at the other end to catch the dust.
Do not put a metal Vacuum cleaner anywhere near the CPU chips and Ram.
3.Now its time to get into the case so take off that side panel and start by putting on your anti static wrist strap. If you are using a cloth to dust the inside, make sure its anti-static. You can buy anti static wipes in most shops.
4. Make sure all cables are well out of the way, that no cards have come loose, and that everything is properly seated. The fans will have a build up of dust on them so try and give those a clean too.
5. Whilst you've got your case open, why not upgrade your RAM or do any other installation whilst the PC is open.
Remember to keep that anti static wrist band on.
6. Uless your PCI and all other cards are really dirty and giving you problems, there is no real need to take them out and re-seat them. Only take them out to clean them in the event the card is causing problems or they are covered in huge mountains of dust.
*** Consider buying a pack of rounded cables to replace your bulky IDE cables too. They will offer better air flow in the case and look nicer too. You can pick up a bag for about £5.00 ***
7. Clean your printer for dust and using your Printing toolkit software which comes with most printers, align print cartridges and clean the heads. Your printer should then go and do a self clean.
8. Cable Modem / Routers. Make sure the equipment is dust free and that all cable connectors are dusted and connected properly.
*** You can save yourself half the work of cutting dust out by covering your PC with a piece of fabric when it is not in use. ***
By taking care of the phsysical parts of your PC, you'l prolong the computers life, cut down on heat produced, and overall your equipment will last longer. Now its time to deal with the software side of things so put all your wires back together, and power up.
Software jobs:
There is a lot to do when doing the software spring clean.
I'd reccomend you start with the following:
1. Its time to take out the old and get with the new... So check that all your applications are up to date.
This is particularly important for your: Antivirus software, Firewall Software, Anti Spyware software, and Windows software.
2. Check for updates on your peripherals. There may be new firmware or latest drivers for your graphics card to download.
3. If you dont have any of those things I've just mentioned, You should do.
So get yourself a free firewall at
www.zonealarm.com, anti spyware software at
http://www.lavasoft.com/support/download/, and the latest Windows updates at
http://www.microsoft.com/
If you still havent bought antiVirus software, get a free virus scan performed here:
http://housecall-beta.trendmicro.com/en/start_corp.asp
And remember to RUN them regularly.
4. Are there any programs that are lingering around on your PC that you never use ? Get rid of them. Uninstall those unnecessary programs.
Oh and get rid of those old program versions too. If you have version 2.5, whats that old version 1.1 still doing here. If you dont use it, get rid of it.
You can also safely delete anything in your Temp folder that is more that a week old and run Windows DiskCleanup application to find any additional bits roaming around to delete.
5. Your computer takes time to loads all those icons in your system tray next to the clock. If you dont need them all, disable them.
Some are as simple as right clicking them. You can also go to run, and type MS Config and look at the Startup tab.
Whilst you are here, clear up your desktop too. Do you really need all those icons cluttering up the screen. Atleast organise them into folders.
6. Delete any unwanted E-mails and oragnise your mail. If you've used outlook and sent a large attachment, it will still be sitting there in the sent
items tray, so remember to delete those mails too.
7. Having done all that deleting and installing of updates, get your PC's hard drive into shape by running Scan Disk. Once thats done, run Defrag and let it check your drive and sort out all your data. Depending on your disk size, it can take a while, so go and get a drink.
Make sure you dont have anything running in the background when running these programs.
8. And finally, Now do a backup of your system onto DVD. You can now sleep with a peace of mind knowing your data is backed up in the
event your PC dies.
In the event your PC is completly and utterly screwed, re-installing Windows with a fresh install can totally solve all your problems.
Just make sure you've backed up data before hand and have all your drivers and software with you first.
And a final point....
Its not only your PC that needs looking after. If you have a rubbish chair that causes you pains and aches whilst at your PC, think about
getting a more ergonomic designed chair. It will be much better for you in the long run.