There are a few steps, some simple, some a little more complicated, that can ensure the longevity of your computer, keep your data safe (from being lost or stolen), and basically save you from having to spend expensive repairs or spending time out of home. your machine
The most basic level of preventative maintenance is keeping your software up to date, especially updates from Microsoft. These updates help fix recently discovered security holes in your system – vulnerabilities that malicious people can exploit to do a variety of nefarious things to your computer. They can lock down your valuable data, preventing you from accessing your files or deleting them entirely. The other big threat that can result from hackers gaining access to your machine is identity theft. The thief can collect passwords, social security numbers, just about anything he wants once he has access to your computer. Identity theft is a major problem facing Americans today, with total monetary damage reaching hundreds of billions of dollars, with an average loss per person of nearly $5,000. But by keeping your operating system updated properly and in a timely manner, you have a much better chance of avoiding what could be an incredible headache.
Just as people brush their teeth so they don’t have to deal with an expensive and painful trip to the dentist, you should also take small steps to keep your machine clean. A sure way to destroy a computer is to allow it to overheat. Your computer is made up of many fragile electronic components that can only function efficiently within a certain temperature threshold. If your computer is exposed to excessive temperatures for an extended period of time, there is probably something wrong with it. This is likely to inevitably lead to expensive repairs and even more expensive downtime. To keep your machine running at the proper temperature, use compressed air to turn off the fans your computer uses, including the heat sink fans, power supply fans, and possibly video card fans. This will remove dust and allow your fans to run much more efficiently.
Getting back to the topic of updates, it’s important to judiciously update your antivirus software (and if you don’t have antivirus software, you should buy it). The reason why it is so important to stay up to date with virus definitions is that bad people are creating new threats on a daily basis, and if you simply run a scan without first updating your antivirus software, your scan will not find any newly developed threats, which That will leave you vulnerable. Other software to keep up to date includes Adobe, Flash Player, along with many other third-party software that hackers can use to attack your computer.
One last method to extend the life of your computer and increase performance is to defragment your hard drive on a weekly basis. Doing so will allow your drive to read data more quickly, and because the drive will have to do less work, it will likely last longer.
The goal of preventative maintenance is to save money and avoid downtime.
