Good Evening Everybody!
Many of you who are familiar with my other articles will notice this is a bit off the regular path for me as I usually write articles dealing with home based businesses and setting up websites. The reason for this article on computer maintenance is this. If you are doing Internet Marketing of any type then you are going to be using a computer. And if your computer breaks down, then your business breaks down along with it. So with that in mind, todays article deals with keeping your computer up and running smooth and trouble free. Many people use a few of the methods listed below, but if you use all of them regularly you will go a long way towards keeping your computer up and running like it was meant to.
1 ) Anti-Virus Software: One of the most important ways to keep your computer happy is good anti-virus software. There are way to many viruses out there today. You can find many free anti-virus programs online with a little research. One I recommend is AVG Free Version. AVG will auto update it’s definition file as long as your computer is online. AVG will also run virus checks in the background, with a minimal effect on you system resources. You can download it from the Grisoft Web site here:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5.
2 ) Anti-Spyware Software: Anti-Spyware is also available for free online. Two I recommend are Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. Spyware and malware can slow down your computer tremendously as well as popping up unwanted ads all over your desktop, even when you are not online. These 2 free programs, while they work very well, have one drawback in my opinion. Auto updates are not available. Which means it’s up to you to remember to check for updates on a regular basis. Both programs do have a “check for updates” option right on their main page. You should have them check for updates at least once a week. Spybot and AdAware can be downloaded here:
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
AdAware: http://www.lavasoft.de/ms/ad_aware_free.php
3 ) Disk Cleanup: The disk clean tool up will help you to keep uneeded or no longer used files off your computer. You will have a gradual build up of uneeded files over a period of time in your temp folder, cookies folder from internet surfing, and various other places on your computer. You can access the Disk Clean up tool in your accessories folder under system tools. Run this once at least once a month.
4 ) Windows Update: Make sure your Windows Update program is set to check periodically for updates for you operating system and the drivers and such for your other installed programs. There are new updates made available on a regular basis from Windows. Many of these will fix security problems and other issues pertaining to you computer.
5 ) Air Flow: Many people try and hide their computer tower away under a desk or in a cabinet, etc. Although the tower may not be the most visually appealing item in the room, you should try and provide room for good air flow space around it. Heat is a major contributor to many computer problems. Hiding it away under a desk or in a closed space just compounds the problem. If you must keep it tucked away somewhere consider putting a small fan by the tower to help the air circulation.
6 ) Reboot: Memory problems can slow your computer down drastically. As programs are opened on your computer they request a portion of your installed RAM, (random access memory). Now ideally when you shut a program down it should release that RAM to be available for other programs. Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen. As a result over the course of the day as you open and close various programs your available RAM dwindles. By doing a reboot or restart periodically throughout the day you will force the computer to release RAM that was still being held for programs that were no longer open. If you use many programs over a few hours time frame it’s a good idea to go grab a coffee or coke and tell your computer to reboot while you are doing that. You should notice a change in speed and accessing programs and internet surfing when you reboot.
7 ) Disk Defragmenter: This is another program available in your accessories/system tools folder. Imagine your hard drive is like a file cabinet. As you create and edit files you just toss them in the file cabinet. Then when you go back to your file cabinet to find a particluar file you have to sort through all the files piled up in the file cabinet. So you take everything out of the file cabinet and sort and organize it in an easy to find system and put it all back in. This is basically of what happens when you run Disk Defragmenter. There are also many free and pay programs out there that work quite well. I use a program from a company called AusLogic which is a free disk defragmenter program that works quite well. You can download AusLogic Disk Defragmenter here:
AusLogic Disk Defrag: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download
By following the above maintenance suggestions your computer should remain in tip top shape for a long time. Remember that it’s up to you to implement these suggestions and keep up with updates and actually using the programs for them to keep your computer, ( and you), happy and healthy!
Well that’s all for tonight, my daughter is having a pool party / sleepover and I have to go make sure they are not all drowning or getting ready to burn the house down with the bonfire. Have a good night everybody. Cya next time!
Mike
I Love Working On The Web.com
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