If only cars were as simple to maintain as computers were. If all you had to do to change the oil or to check tire pressure was to press a couple of buttons sitting in the comfort of your seat, no one would ever let any maintenance get out from under them.

Oddly enough though, they do let quite a lot get out from under them when it comes to computers. The thing is, computers don’t need any mechanical maintenance. You don’t need to oil your hard drive or put your i7 processor in the mineral oil bath to clean up the joints.

Whatever maintenance you need to do is all in the software. People don’t take software very seriously. This little computer maintenance checklist should help you identify what spots need a spot of care from time to time.

Have you ever noticed how when you first buy a computer or when you do a fresh install of the OS, that it runs in an inexplicably clean and smooth way? The moment you install your first program though, things become less than smooth in some hard-to-define way.

Computers do slow down when there is a virus there gumming the works up. They also slow down when there are programs of any kind installed. Of course, you can’t use your computer without installing programs.

But a lot of us just keep useless programs on long after you stop using them. Cleaning your computer up in this way can really help step your user experience up.

You must remember to put this on your computer maintenance checklist – look for any kind of program that you don’t use ever and just get rid of them. Do a proper uninstall, and see how it improves your experience.

Antivirus software by itself really can slow your computer down. The best kinds do manage to carry a light footprint. But they still do bog a computer down at least a little bit.

If you know what not to do on your computer to open yourself up to the risk of malware, you just could consider going without antivirus. It really would help with how snappy and nimble your computer felt.

This still doesn’t mean that you don’t have to have antivirus software. You can get something to install once a month, scan your computer to check for any problems and then you could uninstall it.

If you find that there are viruses found from time to time, that means you really do need the product. Keep scanning to find out if there’s anything there that tells you you need protection.

No computer maintenance checklist is ever going to tell you to try the politically incorrect move of uninstalling your antivirus. But you really should try it.

If you want that new computer feel, you really could back your data up and completely reinstall your operating system once every six months or so. Nearly nothing else you do can make your computer feel as new as this move can.

A Little Common Sense Computer Maintenance Checklist is a post from: Computer Spot

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Computer maintenance is one way to keep your laptop or PC working like new five years from now. Many people don’t think about maintenance until something catastrophic happens, but you have the good fortune to be thinking about it now. One part of the maintenance process is keeping your computer running at tiptop speed.

There are many reasons that computers begin to run slow: viruses, not enough memory, too many applications (goes along with insufficient memory) or a lot of files. Whatever the reason, something needs to be done so you don’t have to work at a snail’s pace.

Behind the scenes on your computer, many things are going on. If you get on the Internet, your computer may be allowing “cookie” files to be stored to remember where you’ve been. We download any and everything from music to videos to eBooks from the Internet. There are temporary files created for some of your downloaded items that can accumulate over time.

Sometimes, the hard drive just needs to be cleaned up a bit. With the defrag process, the computer finds ways to free up space on your hard drive. This cleaning process ensures optimal performance from your computer when something else is not the problem. Defragmenting your computer is a good first step when performance is not at its best.

If you are having a hard time navigating the various files on your computer, the proper name of the process used to correct this is “Disk Defragmenter.” You can use your program search bar on the Start Menu to find it easily. The defragmenter takes fragmented files and consolidates them or gets rid of them completely depending on what they are and if they’re needed.

This is not something that you need to do every day. Remember, you are maintaining here. Performing the operation once a week is good for those who use their computer every day and create a lot of documents and files. The best thing about Windows is that these maintenance operations can be set up on a schedule so that they work behind the scenes like Santa at Christmas. Schedule maintenance operations at odd times like early in the morning or in the middle of the night, when you are not at work on your computer in order to keep them from slowing down your PC while you’re trying to work.

In a nutshell, disk defragmentation is important for everyone. Scheduling the operation leaves your brain free to think about other things. If the defragmentation process does its job, your computer will continue working well for you without any hitches or glitches.

When Do You Need to Defragment? is a post from: Computer Spot

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