You can add longer life to your computer by practicing preventive maintenance, in the same way you do preventive maintenance on other equipment or on your house. Take care of problems before they begin, and you might avert other problems from starting.
RUN YOUR PC TOOLS
You should do your Scan Disk and Defrag tools every week or two, to clean up your hard drive and space. The tools might have to be run several times to clear out certain errors, or to compress your disk space.
The following are items that very few people ever think about – and that will go a long way in keeping your computer in top shape.
KEEP IT COOL
Make sure you have a fan running in the computer – be tuned in to the sounds your computer makes. If the fan sound eventually gets off or disappears, then it’s time to get a new fan, or open it up and temporarily blow a house fan into the components and mother board until you replace the fan. If your computer tends to run hot, you might want to consider getting a second “helper” fan to provide more air exchange. Or you might want to get a better power supply with a more powerful fan. PCs work best within a certain temperature range, which may be 60-85 degrees, depending on your model. At 110 degrees, components begin to break down or the hard drive may fail.
CLEAN OUT DUST Dust is another concern. It can provide insulation where your PC doesn’t need it. It can block the cooling effect of the fans and keep your computer parts heated to extremely hot levels. Dust can also get in between the components, such as between the disk drive and the disk. It can clog up other areas. The best way to deal with the dust is to vacuum the inside of the computer periodically – you can tell how often is best once you see how much dust collects over time. Try once a month at first, and adjust depending on what you find. Turn the computer off and open the cover. Vacuum gently and without touching ANY parts. There are attachments you can buy that can be maneuvered into small areas. Do not touch anything for fear of sending static charges to your components. (Blowing air to remove dust isn’t a good option because that dust will just settle again elsewhere.) If you smoke, don’t do so near the computer because it can drop more dust into your PC.
PREVENT THERMAL SHOCK
Prevent thermal shock to the PC system – if your office is cooled to 40-55 degrees on the weekends, and then you turn the computer on Monday morning, it will heat itself up very quickly and the contraction of the weekend will go to expansion in a short amount of time. This can cause component break-down due to the amount of stress that is caused. If this is the case, leave the computer turned on for the entire weekend, and it will always be ready to go. It’s healthier for the computer to be turned on and off less often, anyway. For laptops, you don’t have the option to leave them on at all times, so when there is a temperature difference, let it adjust for a couple hours or so, depending on how much difference the temperature makes, before turning it on.
NO MAGNETIC FIELDS
Keep magnets away from the PC – they may cause other problems. Some sources of magnetism are certain phones, the magnets that hold your papers or paper clips in place, etc. Keep these things away from the PC. The printer also may contain magnetism in its motor. Have the printer located away from the PC body.
The above will give you some things to think about, and perhaps new routines or changes to implement. For the optimal health of your computer, you need to take care of it for it to perform well, in the same way you take care of your car so it runs well.
By the way, when troubleshooting, the above are areas we check out – if we see indications of the above problems, we can more easily pinpoint a repair or test to begin with.
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