Background: PC/Laptop Maintenance
Over many years i have been disappointed at the approach so many people take to maintaining their desktop or laptop machines. They fail to monitor the disk capacity and what software they have loaded, trialed and forgotten about and as a result the machine gets slower and less responsive. It takes longer to boot up and longer to shut down.They tend to persevere for a while then give up and purchase a new machine. All the expense and hassle of setting up a new machine( and there is but people will not admit it, they get so wrapped up in the shiny new machine!) could be avoided with some simple routine proactive maintenance.
Here are just some of the benefits of performing regular maintenance of a desktop or laptop that take just a few minutes to perform and will pay back with improved performance over a long period of time.
Below i have detailed the simple few steps that can help to prolong the usable life of a machine and keep it in a good responsive state.
Here are just some of the benefits of performing regular maintenance of a desktop or laptop that take just a few minutes to perform and will pay back with improved performance over a long period of time.
- Shorter boot time.
- Shorter shutdown time.
- Faster disk searches.
- Shorter, faster program startup and shutdown.
- Improved disk drive reliability and longer operating life.
Below i have detailed the simple few steps that can help to prolong the usable life of a machine and keep it in a good responsive state.
- De-install old, unused and demo software. Better still do not install software unless you have a specific use for it. Test it by all means but remove it as soon as the testing or evaluation is complete.
- Run the Windows "Disk Cleanup" utility to remove old, temporary and system files.
- Delete downloaded files from the "Download" folder such as PDF's, Manuals, documents etc. Back them up to tape, CD/DVD, USB memory stick etc. if required.
- Run the Windows "Disk Defragment" utility to tidy up the files on your disk drive.
- Maintain the disk capacity below 60-70% to allow the Disk Defragmenter to work well and quickly. Over many years of experience i have noticed that general system performance starts to dip significantly above this level.