Keep Your Computer Clean Always

All of you must have to agree with me on something and that is Computing can only be fun when you when your computer runs smooth and faster. Right? So try to keep it clean on both hardware & software level. Only a clean computer runs faster and lasts longer. Its important to take care about this major investment of yours. There are few things you can do which are very easy but extremely effective to keep your computer in health. After all as long as it would last, its only going to serve you.

Here is some tips to keep the hardware runs smoothly...

1. Clean out the dust particles. Dust is the silent PC killer. Every once and a while you should open it up and clean it out. Some experts suggests using vacuum cleaner for this purpose but i don’t like to think otherwise. Because some dust cleaners are so powerful in sucking air that might harmful. You can of always use dust remover.

2.Keep your PC cool place. You should always make sure that you keep your computer in a well ventilated area. By doing this you help keep the PC cool and, therefore, will prolong the life of your buddy’s hardware.

3.Develop a habit of purchasing quality hardware.Try to get good quality parts when you buy new components for your PC. If you get components always prefer buying from esteemed manufacturers you can be sure that you will get good technical support and the parts will be well made and not cause problems with other existing hardware.

4.Make sure various power supply is uniform. Take note that each plug is plugged into surge protected outlet strips which are plugged into a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply).

5.All items should be properly installed in your computer. When you replace any hardware with a new one, you must install the proper drivers for the new component.

6. Special care should be taken while cleaning the monitor screen. Turn off the monitor before you try any attempt to clean it. Use a soft, clean cloth something like t-shirt and spray a little window cleaner on the cloth. Do not spray cleaner on the monitor or laptop screens. Apply the little wet cloth across the display area first, then the frame and outer casing. This will surly improve the visibility of the images. Of course
use a quality cleaner for this purpose.

7. Consider replacing old UPS, power cables and other important electrical components that may be worn. If you had several outages while using your UPS, you may consider replacing it. If the equipment is at least three years old, then at least inspect it. Some items last longer, but like an old car, you should watch them.

Now time for some software operations to maintain the operating system of your PC...

1. Run the defragmenter utility at least once every month or two. In Windows XP, this can be done by going to your Start menu -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. The defragmenter will help ensure that your files are located at the right place on the hard drive and should boost the overall speed of your computer.

2. Run a disk scan to check for hard drive issues. Open My computer -> Right click on the drive [c:.d:,e:..] -> Properties -> tools -> Check Now. This option will check that specific drive for errors and fix it.

3. Empty your recycle bin once in a month.

4. Delete your Internet files.

5. Clear your browsing history.

6. Delete your cookies.

7. Clean up old & temporary files. When you install/uninstall software frequently it can leave many unwanted files in temporary and system folders. In Windows XP, you should run the Disk Cleanup utility once and a while to clean things up. This utility can be found by clicking the Start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.

8. Should full system scan can for viruses once in a fortnight. Viruses can cause your computer to be slow or not work at all. You should always have a good virus scanner installed and keep it up to date. Some well known virus scanners are Norton, McAfee and AVG.

9. Scan for other malware. Other malware can include spyware, adware, key loggers, and Trojan horses. These pieces of software can get installed without your knowledge when you install another program or visit a website. They can cause your PC to slow down considerably. Spybot Search & Destroy and Adware are two well known malware scanners.


That’s all for now. Later someday we will dive into extensive details of PC maintenance & troubleshooting. We will see that not tough you thought before.