PC Tune Up - Keep Your Computer Muscles in Shape
Like your car, PC tune up is an important routine to keep your PC's engine running smoothly. PC tune ups should be done initially upon purchase of your PC and regularly afterwards.
The things you need to do for an initial PC tune up are:
- Back-up your files for safety.
- Install and ⁄ or update your PC´s antivirus software.
- Install and ⁄ or update your PC´s spyware detection and removal software.
- Update your drivers and softwares to ensure and improve the functionality and performance of your applications.
- Defragment your local hard drives to avoid having your data scattered across the drive.
It is recommended that you perform the above tasks weekly or bi-weekly after the initial PC tune up. Additionally, you should also do the following PC tune up tasks on a monthly basis.
- Run computer diagnostics on your system to detect and fix bad sectors on your hard drives.
- Clean up cookies and temporary files & temporary internet files folder´, as well as old and unused personal files.
- Delete unused applications lodging in your system to free up more disk space and avoid having corrupted files.
- Run your PC registry cleaner to clear invalid and obsolete files in your Windows registry.
On a quarterly basis, you should tune up your computer, including cleaning your PC hardware (including the components within the CPU and any external device connected to your PC) to avoid accumulation of dust.
Back-Up Protection During PC Tune Ups
Personal files often get lost accidentally. Someone can mess with your PC while you´re not looking, or your computer´s hard drive suddenly crashes at random, or something went wrong during your PC tune up. Whatever the case, back-up protection is essential to any PC user and the following tips can help you keep your files safe through any storm.
- Create a list of the files you need to back-up prior to your PC tune up and carefully plan which files should go together into one disk.
- For easy access, organize your back-up disks according to the information they contain.
- You can do this by putting similar types of files such as word documents or mp3 files together into one disk. You can also file according to the date of the file particularly for financial or bank records.
- Burn your personal files into a CD before performing any PC tune up task and make more than one copy whenever possible.
- Keep your back-up CD away from your PC and place them in a fire-safe box or in a safety deposit box.
- Store your most important back-up files in at least two different locations in case disaster strikes one area.
- If you´re storing sensitive or confidential information before a PC tune up, protect your files with a secure password.
