This time we will learn to perform basic preventive maintenance to the computer, referring to Hardware and Software. This means that if we carry out the following procedures we will avoid damages and failures in the equipment in order to extend its useful life.
HARDWARE
As we well know Hardware refers to the physical part of the computer (keyboard, printer, monitor, CPU, etc.) Therefore the maintenance that is done to these is mostly of cleaning and it must be done every weekend.
Keyboard When it is in use or not, it should always be protected with a plastic bag similar to the one that comes when they are new, but if you always have it without covering it safely that its internal parts are full of accumulated dust and in the long run you will notice that some key does not work or in the worst case the keyboard does not respond. To clean these you have to be careful and patient as their pieces are delicate. Before cleaning, try an old keyboard so that you know its interior and know where each piece goes, use isopropyl alcohol.
The monitor It does not require much cleaning, especially the flat screens, only that from time to time you have to pass a flannel cloth over it without any liquid and DO NOT touch or press the screen.
In the event that your monitor is white and over the years it has turned yellow NEVER try to clean it with alcohol because this will make it even more yellow. In that case, use those special whitening liquids or creams or something more homemade like laundry detergent together with a soft sponge.
When you leave the equipment on or discontinued for a long time, for example looking for viruses, which takes a long time, turns off your monitor and turn it on when you need it, with that you will keep your monitor and you will not waste energy in vain.
The mouse or mouse 'macho' (with ball) nowadays few use them if it is your case you will have to uncover it and clean with isopropyl alcohol the inner sphere.
But the 'female' mouse is not advisable to uncover if you do not have knowledge since they are delicate, for this, just clean the base without touching the infrared light in addition to cleaning the mouse pad (where it supports).
The CPU Although it is wrong to call it that since the CPU is an internal part that is on the motherboard, in correct computer terms it is called 'Central system unit' but we will call it CPU to avoid confusion, this will have to be cleaned with a special machine called 'Blower '' which is something like a handheld vacuum cleaner (costs around $ 10).
Before you have to unplug all cables external CPU (mouse, keyboard ...) as well as the current. Before opening the CPU, it must be cold, that is, it has not been used minutes before and we must use surgical gloves to avoid passing our current that we have in the body, if we do not have gloves within our reach, it will be enough for us to support arms and hands to the CPU case.
Once it is uncovered we must blow or aspirate With our tool (Blower) each interior piece thus managing to remove any dust found, we should NOT remove pieces to clean them separately if we do not have advanced knowledge.
It is also recommended to clean the computer table and under it, since it is surely dusty.
We must avoid that our equipment is near humidity (fish tanks) or next to places vulnerable to dust such as windows, doors or corners.
Ink printer It is the hardware that many users are quickly and easily damaged. Why is this? Well, basically because they only print when there is a need, leaving the cartridges inside for long weeks without use; Obviously, this phenomenon causes the ink to dry or run off, damaging the heads, rendering them useless many times.
Or also that users are not careful when handling cartridges and heads, touching circuits or chips that they should NOT touch.
Due to these problems, it is recommended to print at least TWO sheets per week or if we are not going to use it for a long time, remove the print cartridges and store them in the box that came from the factory or somewhere away from dust and humidity.
The maintenance of the printer is also carried out in two ways: by means of the driver or driver software that we have installed, in the case of the Canon maintenance consists of cleaning, deep cleaning, bottom plate cleaning, roller cleaning, etc.
This should be done approximately every end of the month depending on the time of use we have with the printer.
The second way is to uncover the printer and clean the rollers, the bottom plate and other parts with the isopropyl alcohol.
To finish with the hardware maintenance we will recommend that after each use of the computer, we cover it with the special covers that are usually sold in computer stores (a price around 2-3 $) or even with a sheet or tablecloth but that we always have the habit of covering it, since dust is the number one enemy of computers, also never place heavy objects on top of the monitor or the CPU.
It is also recommended to have a 'Stabilizer' that has the function of retaining energy for when there is a blackout or a lightning strike, but if you are looking for something cheaper and that in my opinion more effective, look for an electrician and tell him to put a ground wire for you. It consists of a metal bar that goes to ground and a cable that is placed in the computer socket.
SOFTWARE
The maintenance of Software (Programs) is the simplest, it is also cleaning but this time of files, it must be done every weekend, we will start by saying that before any procedure we uninstall those programs that we do not use, as well as the files or documents, or burn unused data on a CD.
Let's remove those that start with Windows (those that are next to the clock) and that are NOT useful to us. How? Start> Run we type msconfig in the next window we select the tab Home, there we will see said programs and those that are selected and that we do not want to start automatically, we deselect, accept and restart the computer.
The less icons on the desktop and programs have the computer, the faster it will work and our disk lasted the longer it will last.
Later we run a deep scan to the computer in search of viruses, if possible it is with the last update of the day.
The following procedure is extremely important and few perform it, it is about 'Defragment your hard drive ' What do this means?
Over time we are installing-uninstalling programs, copying-moving-deleting files, this causes the hard disk to fragment, let's look at it this way: the hard drive has many casillas where each file that we copy occupies a place and when we delete one it leaves that empty space forming a wide area of ​​occupied and empty boxes, this is the 'Fragmentation' where there are files scattered everywhere and obviously due to fragmentation the system becomes slow.
Then you ask yourself, will I lose data when defragmenting? The answer is No, because the defragmentation consists of each file occupying a single contiguous space on the disk volume.
How to defragment? Windows comes with its own tool by default. disk Defragmenter, you can find it in Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter.
Using it is simple, we must select the drive to defragment and then analyze itIf defragmentation is necessary or not, you will get a message similar to this: 'You must defragment this volume', 'This volume does not need defragmentation'.
It should be noted that the defragmentation time varies depending on the number of fragmented files, the size of the volume (drive), the degree of fragmentation and the resources of your system (RAM-Processor). As you can see, it may take half an hour or three.
Once the above is done, let's use tools such as CCleaner o FCleaner, these applications delete those system files that are normally forgotten after each uninstallation or that are 'loose', forgotten and that they do not fulfill any function other than occupying disk space in vain. The first time you use it, you will be surprised by the amount of files it will find, but don't worry, delete them safely so that you will not lose anything important.
At this final point I must tell you that there is a utility that performs all of the above mentioned and that in my opinion is excellent, it is 'TuneUp Utilities' many are the users who use it, since it has a tool called 'One click maintenance'The bad thing is that it is Shareware (paid) but downloading it and getting the serial is easy.
If you want to obtain it, it is your will.
Finally, emphasize that the safest way to protect the equipment is by using 'Deep Freeze'.
All these procedures consist of basic and preventive maintenance (to avoid damage), although it seems long and tedious it is not, as you get used to doing it you will realize how simple and very necessary it is.