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If you are one of the users who use a computer frequently, it goes without saying that you want the system to be at its best all the time. So, you pay much attention to personal PC maintenance. In today’s post, MiniTool Solution discusses 13 essential and easy computer maintenance steps that even beginners can do.
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Importance of Computer Maintenance
Jun 01, 2013 Step by Step to fix your Mac. Check for browser add-ons that if there are any updates for those. Anti-malware software, update the definitions to make sure it's current. Note: AppStore software is usually behind about 4-8 weeks. Some developers are not carrying on AppStore anymore so their software might not be current there.
Computers play a vital role in your daily life and you can use a PC to do many things, for example, surf the Internet, watch movies, play games, deal with work, etc. PC maintenance is very important to ensure your computer runs smoothly.
If you have ever lost important files due to hard drive crash, spending much time in removing a nasty virus or frying a CPU since you didn’t clean the fan, perhaps you clearly know why you need to maintain your computer.
- Maintenance Connection's CMMS module menu. There are industry-specific maintenance management systems, too. We’ve written buyer’s guides that cover CMMS for specific industries, including fleet management software, equipment maintenance software applications and aircraft MRO software, as well as a guide for Web-based solutions.
- Thanks, Mac Newbie Dear MN, That's a good question. Apple's marketing suggests Macs and their other products 'just work,' so many people never consider regular maintenance for their Macs.
Prevention is better than cure! If you take some time to perform some basic PC maintenance tasks, you can not only make sure the machine has optimal performance but also lengthen the device’s lifespan. Otherwise, the few minutes that you didn’t spend on desktop/laptop maintenance could become hours of unnecessary work in the future.
When you are using your computer, it is really important to perform some necessary tasks to make your PC run at its best as well as protect it.
Now, let’s look at the computer maintenance steps that you should do on a regular basis and how to do them effectively. Firstly, you should know its types.
Types of Computer Maintenance
When it comes to how to maintain a computer, you should consider this case: both hardware and software of your PC should be maintained since they are important and will have a decisive impact on the operation of the system. So, computer maintenance is related to them.
Besides, there are four types of PC maintenance and here is everything you should know about it.
1. Predictive Maintenance
This refers to using a diagnostic tool to anticipate possible failures and avoid some possible issues. And one common way is monitoring your computer system and checking whether it works properly. This tool can control and inform you of battery levels, the temperature of the CPU, and other features.
2. Preventive Maintenance
This type is common and it is carried out to prevent possible failures, improve the function of a system and prolong the life of various computer components. Preventive maintenance is useful since it can detect weak points in the system, decrease the system downtime and reduce the number of repairs.
Preventive software maintenance usually includes scanning and cleaning through antivirus, the creation of backups freeing-up of your disk space and RAM. The preventive hardware maintenance should refer to the periodic cleaning of equipment and its components.
3. Corrective Maintenance
If the previous two types don’t work and a problem occurred, you should perform this maintenance. In addition to solving the failure problems, you should find the cause and prevent it from happening again.
4. Evolutionary maintenance
The last type is to develop the system of your computer so it can perform more efficiently. This type concerns both hardware and software, so you can update Windows and change various parts of the PC for better performance.
Computer Maintenance Tips
Now you have clearly known the detailed description of types of computer maintenance. In the following part, some useful tips are offered to you and all of them belong to one of these types. Here is the computer maintenance checklist.
1. Clean Your Computer
If dust is on your computer, it looks gross and the PC will trap heat reducing its performance and lifespan. So, you can open the case (for a desktop) and blow the dust out. Besides, use a damp cloth to wipe the case. For a desktop, don’t forget the monitor.
Is your monitor not displaying full screen in Windows 10? This post will walk you through how to easily fix this issue to make it full screen.
Additionally, dust can clog up your cooling fans and keyboard. So, you should also clean them. A compressed air canister is helpful. Moreover, don’t neglect ports and crevices of a laptop and desktop.
2. Don’t Block the Vents
Like people, machines also need to breathe. So, don’t block the vent, which aims to ensure your computer can remain cool enough to work properly.
3. Keep Your Food and Drink Away from PCs
Don’t eat and drink over your laptop or desktop since the consequence is serious. For example, your keyboard can be destroyed after a single spill or food residues penetrate the case of your device and damage the internal components.
4. Don’t Overcharge Your Battery
Don’t keep your device plugged in at all times. This is because unnecessary charging can retard the regenerative capability of the battery. And the ability to hold a charge can drop off a year later. Usually, you can make a setting for your laptop to let it not charge when reaching 20%.
Note: Sometimes you find your PC is plugged in but not charging. This is caused by your settings.
5. Create a Backup for Your Important Files and System
As a computer owner, the most important thing you can do is to back up the important data stored on your hard drive. This tip is also a vital part of regular personal computer maintenance since unexpected hard drive failure, serious computer problems, viruses, etc. can cause data loss. Besides, system also crashes and cannot boot.
Thus, create a backup now.
If you don’t know how to do this work, you can ask our professional, reliable and free PC backup software for help - MiniTool ShadowMaker.
As an all-in-one backup software, it is designed to back up the Windows operating system, files & folders, disks and partitions on a regular basis. Differential and incremental backup are supported. In addition, file sync and disk clone can be realized by this software.
Now, get MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition to start a backup from the following button. Note that this edition only gives you a 30-day free trial. To use it all the time, get its Pro Edition from MiniTool Store.
1. Launch this software to a window where you need to choose a backup mode by clicking the Connect button.
2. Go to the Backup page, click Source and choose files that you want to back up.
3. Click Destination to choose a target path that can be a USB flash drive, external hard drive, SSD, etc.
4. Finally, click Back up Now to immediately start the file backup.
Tip: To ensure your PC can restore to its previous state in case system crashes in the future, we recommend you to create a system image. By default, MiniTool ShadowMaker selects system drives to back up. For more information, refer to this post - A Guide to Use Best Ghost Image Software to Ghost Windows 10/8/7.
6. Run Antivirus and Malware Scans Regularly
This computer maintenance tip should go without saying but we say it anyway. Any computer should have conventional virus protection and spyware detection software to monitor the system for threats in real time and remove them to keep the PC safe.
In Windows 10, Windows Defender can offer you real-time virus & threat prevention, account protection, firewall & network protection, etc.
Alternatively, you can install an antivirus or anti-malware program on your computer, for example, Malwarebytes or Avast. Just run such a tool to perform a full scan for viruses, spyware, malware, etc.
7. Always Run Your Firewall
Windows Firewall in the operating system is the first line of defense against malware. It can filter some information from the Internet and block potentially harmful programs from installing. This tool should always be running. It is pretty useful when you install new apps from a third-party source other than the manufacturer or developer.
Just go to Control Panel, click Windows Defender Firewall > Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off and ensure the Firewall is enabled.
8. Uninstall Programs You Don’t Use
When using a computer for a long time, you may have installed all sorts of programs. Sometimes you may forget or not realize you have installed them. These programs slow down your computer over time and take much disk space. Even some run in the background and eat up the system resource.
So, you should uninstall unnecessary programs. To do this work, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features to the app list. Then, right-click each program to choose the Uninstall option.
Tip: Sometimes uninstalling programs via Control Panel couldn’t completely remove the apps. This article - How to Remove Remnants of Uninstalled Software? Try These Ways is helpful for you.
9. Update Windows System and Programs
One of the best ways to make sure your PC is at the best state is to keep your operating system up-to-date. For the Windows system, Microsoft always keeps rolling out updates and security patches to improve the overall user experience.
You can go to Windows Update, check for available updates and restart the PC to install them. Besides, ensure you install the latest driver software.
Troubled by the issue Windows Updates cannot currently check for updates? This post shows 4 solutions to fix Windows update failed problem.
Additionally, you should update critical programs. Just go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest version of your program to install.
10. Clean Your Disk
As time goes on, your PC is filled with a large amount of unnecessary information including temporary files, thumbnails, web pages, old Windows installation, and more others. Much disk space is occupied and the PC may turn slow.
Cleaning your disk is an excellent computer maintenance tip. In Windows, you can ask Disk Cleanup for help. If you are using Windows 10, you can go to Settings > System > Storage to delete temporary files.
11. Use a Disk Space Analysis Tool
To keep your PC clean and free from un-required data, understanding what is on your computer is helpful. A disk space analysis tool can scan your PC and show you all your data.
Here you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard since it offers a feature called Space Analyzer to scan your disk, let you know what is taking up your space, and easily and intuitively display the result.
12. Clean Your PC System
To ensure your PC stays fast and junk-free, you can use a PC cleaning tool to clean some files like cache, logs, fragments, temporary files, etc. from the Windows system since these files can take up much space, cause software errors and slow down the system.
CCleaner is one of the most excellent PC cleaning tools and it can clean junk files wonderfully.
13. Use a CPU and GPU Temperature Monitoring Tool
As is well known, PC overheating can be a really serious problem since it can cause data corruption and PC components permanent damage. In your computer, CPU and GPU are the parts that are easy to be heating. Keeping an eye on the temperature will help you keep them cool if needed.
So, using a CPU and GPU temperature monitoring tool can be a good computer maintenance step. HWMonitor is recommendable.
Tip: In addition to these PC maintenance tips, there are some other tips you can try – use a hard drive health monitoring tool like CrystalDiskInfo, free up space With cloud storage solutions, shut down your PC properly, be careful with unfamiliar WiFi networks, etc.
The End
After reading this post, you clearly know what types of computer maintenance are and how to maintain a computer to ensure it can run smoothly. Just do by following the desktop/aptop maintenance checklist above.
If you have any other tips on maintaining your PC, please tell us by leaving a comment in the following part or sending an email to [email protected]. Besides, let us know if you have a question when using MiniTool software.
6 3 likes 47,502 views Last modified Jun 1, 2013 4:26 PM
Hello and welcome to my User Tip
Although you might have heard that 'Mac's don't need maintenance' they actually do in sense to keep things more or less in line or the machine can become a mess through a users inaction to keep things tidy and updated.
So I'm going to share what you can do to keep your Mac running fine.
Do weekly:
1: Apple Menu > Software Update (repeat until clear) - fixes issues and security problems in Apple provided software.
2: Third Party Software
Open each and search for a update button or visit the developers website and verify the version or uninstall if issues develop according to the developers directions (do no use AppDelete type programs).
A warning flag should go off if your auto-updating program (like Chrome or Firefox) is not the current compatible OS X version. You have a further issue to fix. .Step by Step to fix your Mac
Check for browser add-ons that if there are any updates for those.
Anti-malware software, update the definitions to make sure it's current.
Note: AppStore software is usually behind about 4-8 weeks. Some developers are not carrying on AppStore anymore so their software might not be current there. Install software directly from the developers website if it's there instead, it will have it's own updater and be faster that way, especially for any software that contacts the Internet routinely, like Opera or other browsers or mail programs.
3: Third Party System Preferences files and Finder menu items - don't forget updating those.
4: Third Party Web Browser Plug-ins - This checker can assist enormously: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/
5: Reset Safari and all web browsers caches files located in each browser's preferences.
![Computer Maintenance Software For Mac Computer Maintenance Software For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126203125/283606939.jpg)
6: Reset Flash and other web browser plugin caches find out where they are located per browser plugin
7: For Privacy. Run the free CCleaner for the Mac: https://www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner
8: If running another operating system in BootCamp or virtual machine software, revert to a earlier secure snapshot and do all the updates and cleaning.
9: Update your more immediate backup system, either TimeMachine and/or bootable clones if they are disconnected.
10: Do not update your longer term-
-disconnected bootable clone backup until another few weeks have passed to make sure all your software is working as intended, you might have to revert to this earlier machine state to bypass new issues. Most commonly used backup methods
11: Optional scrubbing:
If you have a boot hard drive you can opt to scrub the deleted files off the drive and cure future bad sector issues at the same time by using Disk Utilities > Erase Free Space > Zero option on the Macintosh HD. It will take some time to complete and isnt' necessary, but can assist reduce the possibility of future problems.
Never move a computer or a hard drive while it's running. It's a big cause of many issues on these forums.
SSD's can't be securely erased or scrubbed. How do I securely delete data from the machine?
12: Check for recent security issues:Security Issues Warning List
If your running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion,
Right click or control click on software that won't run or install that you trust the source of, this will bypass Apple's Gatekeeper and shouldn't be required to do so ever again.
Best Computer Maintenance Software
Do monthly:
1: Run the #12/#13 OnyX cache cleaning /repair routine (do not clean the log files, you may need those) and reboot. .Step by Step to fix your Mac
2: Check your router makers site for firmware updates for your router and apply, they fix security issues. WiFi security issues, at home and WiFi hotspots
3: Update your long term backup/bootable clone if there wasn't a OS X or third party update in the last week or so to make sure it's running as expected. Photo slideshow with music software for mac.
Do all the time:
1: Don't let your boot hard drive get more than 50% (best performance) or more than 80% filled. Do not ignore the warnings your boot drive is getting filled
2: Don't let your boot Solid State Disk or Flash drive get more than 80% filled. Look in Utilities > Activity Monitor
3: Do not install software or browser plugins from unverifiable sources. Especially if there is no means to get into physical contact with the developer. Security Steps and Behavior
4: Do not visit risky web sites or ignore 'Safe Warnings' as Mac's can also be attacked at malicious web sites. Ideally, use a virtual machine operating system you can purge in a few seconds by reverting to a earlier snapshot. (Linux also can be used and it's free)
5: Do not install software promising to 'speed up your Mac' Learn how your machine works here: Why is my computer slow?
6: Keep a clone backup of each Mac on a powered external drive kept offsite to prevent against fire, theft and acts of man. Most commonly used backup methods
7: Hardening your MacHarden your Mac against malware attacksSecurity Issues Warning List
What you don't need to do:
1: Regular Defragmentation -
Needed only for hard drives (not SSDs) and OS X does it's own so you don't have to unless it's been upgraded or in a very rare long time, then if it's required there is a very safe and long lasting method to go about it here: How to safely defrag a Mac's hard drive
2: Run restrictive or always on anti-virus.
Apple has their own installed and the free ClamXav is good enough for the Windows malware that comes on files in OS X. (but don't affect OS X)
Computer Maintenance Software
Uninstall the always on anti-virus using the developers uninstall method as it likely installed files into OS X itself, thus needs special uninstaller to remove it.
3: Don't use MacKeeper, it's a burn.
What you should consider having done:
1: Cleaning inside of the machine of dust
One can greatly extend the usable life of their computer if the dust is routinely cleaned out of the machine, especially the cooling fins where it gets clogged at.
Inquire with Apple or Apple Authorized Repair about having the dust cleaned out of the machine at least once a year and determining from that how often to have it done.
Do not open the machine unless it's one of those machines that are user service allowed or you will void your AppleCare/warranty.
Computer Maintenance Software For Mac Windows 10
Mac Software Store
Enjoy your Mac. 🙂