Routine Maintenance and software updates

1. Routine Maintenance and software updates Andrew MacDonald

2. To start …. Simple maintenance should be made every 2-4weeks, it’ll only take 10-30mins , and will help to make your computer run faster. This may seem very complicated, but simple things can be done to help maintain your computers life and stop it from getting bogged down and slow. This is something that all Computer users should do to help maintain their computer.

3. Simple techniques are: • Removing programs • Cleaning the hard drive of unneeded files. • Removing invalid registry entries. • Lowering the amount of Start-up items. • Defragmenting the hard drive. • Doing malware and virus checks

4. Removing programs Programs and software take up a lot of space on your hard drive. Many of these programs you don’t need or use, and you have forgotten what they are for. These programs can even be running in the background and using a lot of you memory to do this, and they are doing nothing for you. A simple way of deleting them is going to control panel, Add\Remove programs (Programs and features in Vista), choosing the one you don’t need and removing them. From time to time it is good to have a look down the list to find programs which you no longer need or use.

5. Cleaning the hard drive The hard drive has more moving parts than any other part of the computer. It’s constantly Adding, Deleting and reorganizing files which takes a lot of work especially if some of the files are unnecessary. A good piece of software to clean your hard drive with is CCleaner (http://majorgeeks.com/CCleaner_Slim_d4191.html) To run simply open CCleaner and click run cleaner and it will carry out all the tasks that are needed to be done.

6. Removing invalid registry entries The Registry is not an area for the average computer user to be playing in so be careful. Overtime the registry builds up a lot of invalid entries so it’s a good idea to constantly clean your computer of these. I don’t recommend deleting things in the registry instead using CCleaner which has a safe registry cleaner built in. Click the issues button Click scan for issues The click clean selected issues, and that’s all you need for a fast safe registry clean.

7. Start-up items Ever wondered why you have to wait a few minutes before you can use your computer. It’s because all the start up programs in the bottom right of the screen are all being loaded. They also use memory just sitting there. Removal is difficult but doable: first of all try initializing the program and then finding and turning off the “run with windows” option. If that doesn’t work then you can CCleaner to delete the start up programs that you no longer need. To do this go to tools and the start up, but be careful about what you delete because some start ups load drives which are necessary for the program to operate.

8. Defragmenting the hard drive. Defragmenting basically means organising your hard drive so it is all neat and tidy ready for data to be written and read from it. After a while the data becomes scattered, so defragmenting organises it for you. It is widely known that the windows defragmenter is not the best so another new and free program available to you is IObit Smart Defrag which is a much better program for defragmenting. http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5318

9. Antivirus and malware checks Every so often it is recommended that you check your computer for Viruses and malware. Viruses and malware can be potentially harmful to your computer and even in the worse cases make it unusable. To do this it is recommended that you use a scanner from a trusted source such as Majorgeeks.com, Spybot, spyware Doctor etc. When have got such a program it is important to keep the virus database up to date, so your computer knows what it’s looking for.

10. Extra tips to help maintain your computer system • Make sure you computer system is well ventilated. • Make sure no ventilation slots are covered • Never turn you computer off at the mains until windows has fully shut down. • Purchasing an UPS (uninterruptable power supply) this will help you to shut down safely and stop surges travelling through your system and damaging it. • Use a firewall • Make sure you backup your data

11. Some non-routine maintenance • Making sure your cables are kept tidy, so they don’t cause a hazard • Upgrading your hardware (if you need to) • Make sure you have a good connection speed to the internet if you have that so that you can load web sites quickly and easily • Update your software, to make sure you get the best out of it. • Cleaning, make sure you clean your computer every so often, to get rid of all the dirt and dust.