Computer Maintenance Tips

Just about everything needs to be “maintained” on a regular basis to stay “healthy” including our computers… Here are a few simple things to do, to be sure that your computer lives a long healthy and happy life and stays out of the “computer hospital”…

1. First and foremost, make sure you back-up your computer system and data on a regular basis. This is critical in case your system ever crashes or is infected with a major virus… Whether you back-up manually or automatically, whether you use a 3rd party (such as carbonite.com or mozy.com) or you back-up to a DVD, CD, flash drive, portable hard drive or external hard drive, making sure your system is totally backed up is one of the most important maintenance steps to ensure that you don’t lose valuable information including your data, photos, videos, music etc.



2. Make sure your computer is up-to-date on it’s “shots” which means making sure that your computer is protected with anti-virus & spyware software. And just as important, you want to be sure this software is “current” meaning you must accept and allowing the updates for your anti-virus, adware, spyware and malware program on a regular basis. It’s also highly recommended that you protect your privacy by using a firewall… Together, all of these help to protect your computer, the information on it as well as your personal information.



3. Updates are important not only for your anti-virus, but also for your operating system – application programs and drivers for your peripheral hardware, such as your scanner, printer and other hardware…



4. Know the specifics about all your equipment and programs – it helps to create a list of your equipment including mfg, model #’s, serial numbers, when they were purchased, and other important data, such as cartridge #’s; specifics about your digital cameras, camcorders, cell/smart phones and programs – and in one place along with the receipts, so that you can quickly and easily access the information when you are talking to a technical support person. It also helps to keep the basic information for all on a small card in your wallet, that you can refer to when you are shopping or asking for technical advice



5. Protect your computer (and all electronics in your home) from “power surges and drops”.. Use a surge suppressor, which contain technology that prevent excess amounts of electricity from entering your computer – Computers especially, are highly sensitive to electrical fluctuations a surge protector that help “even out” power spikes… So whether you have a desktop or laptop, you need surge protection…If you have a home office, you may want to consider also using a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) which often times has a built in surge suppressor/protector.



6. For those of you who carry around laptops, notebooks or netbooks – portable devices should be carried in “protective/padded cases” and if you are leaving your desktop for a long period of time, consider covering it when it is off and not being used……



7. Ventilation is important. It’s never a good idea to cover the back of a desktop – the vents & fans - with anything that could prevent airflow. Some people, often those with pets or live in areas that tend to be dusty, thinks it’s beneficial to protect their computers and stop animal hair, dander & dust from entering their fans & vents, by covering them with pantyhose, cheesecloth etc., but they only cause more problems by preventing proper ventilation.. Laptops, notebooks and netbooks should be raised slightly from the surface-many new ones have small feet built in, or just add little Velcro furniture tabs under each corner, or use a small rack like those used in kitchen cabinets...



8. For many years when your system began to run slowly the first recommendation made was to “clean out your cookies and temporary internet files” – although this isn’t as important now that the computer hard drives are so large, but there are still advantages to cleaning them out periodically..…



9. Before you just hit the power button, be sure you have properly and completely closed all programs. Shutting down your operating system properly will ensure that you don’t corrupt any of your files, making them inaccessible in the future…



10. Find a good technical support person that you trust – so that when you aren’t sure – you can call them. The last thing we want to do is touch something that could void our warranty or further damage our system…

What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without our permission or knowledge. The term "virus" is commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware & spyware programs that don’t have reproductive abilities.

• A true virus can only spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a CD, DVD, or USB drive.


• Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.

Viruses are very different (technically) from COMPUTER WORMS & TROJAN HORSES:

• A WORM can use security vulnerabilities to spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host


• A TROJAN HORSE is a program that appears harmless but has a hidden agenda. Worms and Trojans, like viruses, may cause harm to either a computer system's hosted data, functional performance, or networking throughput, when they are executed. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but most are hidden. This makes it hard for most users to notice, find and disable and is why anti-virus programs are now commonplace

Free Anti-Virus & Spyware software

www.avg.com – The one I’ve used for years and have great faith in

www.moonsecure.com – This free antivirus program installs easily, updates frequently and continually monitors your system; it was noted also in the fall 2009 issue smart computing magazine…

There are others out there, such as: TrendMicro Systems, WinFixer and others but I’ve not heard great things about them – so ask around & do your homework before you use them

ON LINE BACK OF YOUR COMPUTER (Documents, pictures, music etc..) Two companies come to mind:

www.carbonite.com and www.mozy.com

Personally, I use Carbonite and find it the least expensive, because I have so much to back up (over 200GB); their annual flat rate now is $54.95 – which is insignificant if everything was ever lost or corrupted……it backs up continually (behind the scenes) so no matter how & when I add work, etc to my PC it’s backed up without thinking about it… never have to worry about my computer crashing. So check them both out - do the math decide which is best for you..

Help your PC Last Longer

In response to the question we are asked most often - how to speed up your computer and extend your computer life... these are our tips...

1.) Install spyware and antivirus programs and be sure to keep them updated
Whether you use Norton, McAfee or AVG they are only successful if and when you keep them updated. And be sure you also have a program to eliminate spyware, such as Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware or Microsoft’s Windows Defender that detect & remove spyware from your pc...

2.) Run diagnostics. Most PCs have maintenance tools built into your system and on a schedule. To find them in Windows PCs, go to Start, Accessories and you'll find them in “System Tools”. Its recommended that at least once a month (or better yet once a week) we should:

a. back up
b. run disk defrag, and
c. run the disk cleanup tool

If your diagnostics are scheduled to run during the night and your computer is off, the diagnostics cannot be done, so you must do it the next time you turn your computer on, when it will remind you....

3.) Increase RAM. The quickest way to increase the performance of our computers is to add more memory - RAM (Random-access memory). All of us should have at least 2GB or worse case at least 1GB. This is especially important for those of us running software made in the last year or two.. you can get 1 GB for less than $50; 2 GB for under $100 - a very worthwhile investment..