"Take good care of your PC, and it will take good care
of you."
It's a nice sentiment, but reality is more like
"Take good care of your PC, and it won't crash, lose your data, and cost
you your job--probably." Follow these steps to stop PC problems before
they stop you.
Your PC's two mortal enemies are heat and moisture.
Excess heat accelerates the deterioration of the delicate circuits in your
system. The most common causes of overheating are dust and dirt: Clogged vents
and CPU cooling fans can keep heat-dissipating air from moving through the
case, and even a thin coating of dust or dirt can raise the temperature of your
machine's components.
Any grime, but especially the residue of cigarette smoke,
can corrode exposed metal contacts. That's why it pays to keep your system
clean, inside and out.
If your PC resides in a relatively clean,
climate-controlled environment, an annual cleaning should be sufficient. But in
most real-world locations, such as dusty offices or shop floors, your system
may need a cleaning every few months.
All you need are lint-free wipes, a can of compressed
air, a few drops of a mild cleaning solution such as Formula 409 or Simple
Green in a bowl of water, and an antistatic wrist strap to protect your system
when you clean inside the case.
Think Outside the Box
Before you get started cleaning, check around your PC for
anything nearby that could raise its temperature (such as a heating duct or
sunshine coming through a window). Also clear away anything that might fall on
it or make it dirty, such as a bookcase or houseplants.
Always turn off and unplug the system before you clean
any of its components. Never apply any liquid directly to a component. Spray or
pour the liquid on a lint-free cloth, and wipe the PC with the cloth.
Clean the case: Wipe the case and clear its ventilation
ports of any obstructions. Compressed air is great for this, but don't blow
dust into the PC or its optical and floppy drives. Keep all cables firmly
attached to their connectors on the case.
Maintain your mechanical mouse: When a nonoptical mouse
gets dirty, the pointer moves erratically. Unscrew the ring on the bottom of
the unit and remove the ball. Then scrape the accumulated gunk off the two
plastic rollers that are set 90 degrees apart inside the ball's housing.
Keep a neat keyboard: Turn the keyboard upside down and
shake it to clear the crumbs from between the keys. If that doesn't suffice,
blast it (briefly) with compressed air. If your keys stick or your keyboard is
really dirty, pry the keys off for easier cleaning. Computer shops have special
tools for removing keys, but you can also pop them off by using two pencils
with broken tips as jumbo tweezers--just be sure to use a soft touch.
Make your monitor sparkle: Wipe the monitor case and
clear its vents of obstructions, without pushing dust into the unit. Clean the
screen with a standard glass cleaner and a lint-free cloth. If your monitor has
a degauss button (look for a small magnet icon), push it to clear magnetic
interference. Many LCDs can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol; check with your
LCD manufacturer. Wipe your LCD lightly: The underlying glass is fragile.
Check your power protection: Reseat the cables plugged
into your surge protector. Check the unit's warning indicator, if it has one.
Surge protectors may power your PC even after being compromised by a voltage
spike (making your system susceptible to a second spike). If your power
protector doesn't have a warning indicator and your area suffers frequent power
outages, replace it with one that has such an indicator and is UL 1449
certified.
Swipe your CD and DVD media: Gently wipe each disc with a
moistened, soft cloth. Use a motion that starts at the center of the disc and
then moves outward toward the edge. Never wipe a disc in a circular motion.
Inside the Box
Before cracking open the case, turn off the power and
unplug your PC. Ground yourself before you touch anything inside to avoid
destroying your circuitry with a static charge. If you don't have a grounding
wrist strap, you can ground yourself by touching any of various household
objects, such as a water pipe, a lamp, or another grounded electrical device.
Be sure to unplug the power cord before you open the case.
Use antistatic wipes to remove dust from inside the case.
Avoid touching any circuit-board surfaces. Pay close attention to the
power-supply fan, as well as to the case and to CPU fans, if you have them.
Spray these components with a blast of compressed air to loosen dust; but to
remove the dust rather than rearrange it, you should use a small vacuum.
If your PC is more than four years old, or if the
expansion cards plugged into its motherboard are exceptionally dirty, remove
each card, clean its contacts with isopropyl alcohol, and reseat it. If your
system is less than a couple years old, however, just make sure each card is
firmly seated by pressing gently downward on its top edge while not touching
its face. Likewise, check your power connectors, EIDE connectors, and other
internal cables for a snug fit.
While you have the case open, familiarize yourself with
the CMOS battery on the motherboard. For its location, check the motherboard
manual. If your PC is more than four or five years old, the CMOS battery may
need to be replaced. (A system clock that loses time is one indicator of a
dying CMOS battery.)
Look for Trouble
Give your PC a periodic checkup with a good hardware
diagnostic utility. Two excellent choices are Sandra Standard from SiSoftware
and #1-TuffTest-Lite from #1-PC Diagnostics. Download the free version of
Sandra (the full version of the application costs $35) or to download
#1-TuffTest-Lite (the fully functional version is $10).
Sandra Standard:
CODE
#1-TuffTest-Lite:
CODE
Adding and removing system components leaves orphaned
entries in the Windows Registry. This can increase the time your PC takes to
boot and can slow system performance. Many shareware utilities are designed to
clean the Registry.
Windows stores files on a hard drive in rows of
contiguous segments, but over time the disk fills and segments become
scattered, so they take longer to access. To keep your drive shipshape, run
Windows' Disk Defragmenter utility. Click Start, Programs (All Programs in XP),
Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. If your drive is heavily
fragmented, you could boost performance. Defragging may take hours, however.
Disable your screen saver and other automatic programs beforehand to keep the
defrag from restarting every few minutes.
Disk Defragmenter won't defragment the file on your hard
drive that holds overflow data from system memory (also known as the swap
file). Since the swap file is frequently accessed, defragmenting it can give
your PC more pep. You can defragment your swap file by using a utility such as
the SpeedDisk program included with Norton SystemWorks 2004, but there's a way to
reset it in Windows.
In Windows XP, right-click My Computer and choose
Properties. Click Advanced, and then choose the Settings button under
Performance. Click Advanced again and the Change button under Virtual Memory.
Select another drive or partition, set your swap file size, and click OK.
If you have only one partition and no way to create a
second one, and you have at least 256MB of RAM, disable the swap file rather
than moving it: Select "No paging file" in the Virtual Memory
settings. If you have trouble booting, start Windows in Safe Mode and re-enable
this option.
Hard-Drive Checkup
Windows XP offers a rudimentary evaluation of your hard
disk's health with its error-checking utility: Right-click the drive's icon in
Windows Explorer and select Properties, Tools, Check Now. (Windows can fix
errors and recover bad sectors automatically if you wish.) If the check
discovers a few file errors, don't worry, but if it comes up with hundreds of
errors, the drive could be in trouble.
To conduct a more thorough examination, download
Panterasoft's free HDD Health utility, which monitors hard-drive performance
and warns of impending disaster:
CODE
The program works only with drives that support S.M.A.R.T
technology, but nearly all drives released since 2000 are S.M.A.R.T.-compliant.
Many hardware and software designers humbly assume you
want their program running on your PC all the time, so they tell Windows to
load the application at startup (hence, the ever-growing string of icons in
your system tray). These programs eat up system resources and make hardware
conflicts and compatibility problems more likely. To prevent them from
launching, just click Start, Run, type "msconfig" and press Enter.
The programs listed under the Startup tab are set to start along with Windows.
Uncheck the box at the left of each undesirable program to prevent it from
starting automatically.
Four Tips for Longer PC Life
1. Keep your PC in a smoke-free environment. Tobacco
smoke can damage delicate contacts and circuits.
2. Leave your PC running. Powering up from a cold state
is one of the most stressful things you can do to your system's components. If
you don't want to leave your PC running all the time, use Windows' Power
Management settings to put your machine into hibernation rather than completely
shutting down. In Windows XP, right-click the desktop and select Properties.
Click the Screen Saver tab and select the Power button. Choose the Hibernate
tab to ensure that hibernation is enabled, and then select a time beneath
"System hibernates" under the Power Schemes tab. (Note that this
option is not available on all PCs.) Computers running older versions of
Windows may or may not provide similar power-management features. Look under
the Power Management icon (Power Options in Windows 2000) in Control Panel to
evaluate your machine's capabilities.
3. Don't leave your monitor running. The best way to
extend your display's life is to shut it off when it's not in use.
4. Avoid jostling the PC. Whenever you move your system,
even if it's just across the desktop, make sure the machine is shut down and
unplugged.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.