adminYOUR tired old machine giving you grief?
Slow, gets hot, and crashes often? One simple question I am going to ask you “When was the last time your machine was serviced?”
Surprised? Well you shouldn’t be! Just like a car your PC/laptop needs regular servicing in order for it to stay in tip top performance.
“What areas of my machine need servicing?” Well everything really and servicing your machine can also prevent issues from data loss to many frustrating nights just trying to finish that important project on you “jalopy”!
There are some simple ways to service your rig, even for a novice! There are loads of applications that you can download and use to get all this done.
However, you will still need to take your machine in to a pro for a full servicing every now and again.
Be careful of what you download these days from the net when looking for computer maintenance software that will “clean up” your PC. A lot of them actually come with malware and adware.
One that I have found and I trust since it has many awards and from which you can also directly purchase an original licence is I Obit’s Advanced system care. This software comes with a lot of user friendly tools that will assist you with common day to day PC issues and cleaning up system files.
Once downloaded and installed go through each service that is available to you and read. Mostly as users you will use the Disk Cleaning utility, Short-cut repair tool, Simple registry cleaning tool and the Uninstaller (brilliant addition).
This is just my recommendation, you can search for one that suits you and your needs. Remember if there is no accreditation for the software form any well-known software company then don’t download and install!
“Do it yourself” servicing seems like a great idea and it really is, however as a user there are areas of your computer that you just cannot access, either due to “Access privileges” or you don’t know how to open up your computer physically. This is something that you should take to your usual technician to do.
Advanced computer servicing, as I like to call it, is a deep clean, both physically and data minded. The physical aspect is where the technician will open up the machine and physically clean all dust from air vents, processor heat sink, fans and power supply. This is very important to do!
When dust and other muck builds up it begins to restrict airflow through your machine, thus causing your computer to “over heat”, ultimately slowing down your machine and even damaging it.
With special brushes and other tools, we technicians can remove this dust, replace the CPU cooling paste and in some cases even wash the motherboard with a special cleaning fluid if you have in the past spilled a “little bit” of coffee or tea on to it (that’s if your machine is a laptop).
The software side of the advanced service delves deep into the computers “temp” folders, advanced registry cleaning and internet history that just won’t go away! Virus scans are done to remove any “minor” virus that may still be affecting your machine.
The technician should also then check to see that all your major software applications and device drivers are “up to date”. Believe it or not, updating your software to the latest versions or service packs does actually improve the performance and life of your computer.
There is a false claim that updating slows your computer down. This may only be true if you don’t do a regular clean up. Updating your device drivers also is imperative, the manufacturers of our computers and laptop parts go through great lengths to improve their devices just for you whether we like to believe it or not.
These updates go through vigorous testing long before they are made available for download, and all updates are and should be free. In some software cases updating does come at a minimal charge. These types of software are mostly for professionals like architects, graphic designers and photographers.
As users we all tend to want to “do it ourselves”, but what we need to remember is that we Don’t know everything! I know of several instances where the “client” has attempted to do an advance service on their own, ultimately and often with cataclysmic results, losing not only data, but having to buy a complete new machine.
My recommendation for servicing:
Using software you have downloaded – run clean ups at least once a week;
At least once every 3 months send your machine in for a DEEP software maintenance (even if nothing is wrong);
Between one and two times a year have a physical service done on your machine, even if you think you are of clean and sober habits!
Back up and reload your system at least once a year (sounds like too much work but I know of several people whom I have advised to do this and thank me for it today). — TechZim
Online Reporter