In our daily life, we use a computer to do many things like playing games, watching movies, handling work, etc. But we might ever encounter some situations, for example, the vital files losing, CPU overheating, viruses infecting the PC, system crash, etc.
Solving them is an annoying thing. This is why we need to maintain a computer. Computer maintenance can make the machine own the best performance and the well-maintained devices can live longer.
Well then, how can we maintain our laptop or desktop? Here is a computer maintenance checklist.
How to Maintain a Computer
1.   Keep the Computer Clean
Cumulated dust can impact the heat dissipation of the PC, degrading the performance and reducing the use lifespan. If it is serious, the computer components like the keyboard become non-working. So, we should clean our PC automatically.
The standard tool for dust cleaning is compressed air spray. As for the accessible surfaces, we can use a damp and lint-free cloth to clean. Also, don’t forget to clean the monitor, ports, and crevices.
2.   Keep Food and Drink Away from PCs
Don’t eat or drink over your desktop or laptop. Once the drink spills, the keyboard may get destroyed. Besides, the dump may penetrate the casing of the device and damage the internal components.
3.   Put the Machine to a Right Place
Put the computer in a secure and dry place to avoid damage and data loss disasters like flood or damage. Also, don’t block the vents since the machine also needs to breathe, just like us. Otherwise, it will be overheated, leading to many various problems.
4.   Don’t Overcharge the Battery
It is better to not keep the machine charged. Otherwise, unnecessary charging can retard the regenerative capability of the battery. After one year or maybe sooner, we find the ability to hold a charge drops off.
Eventually, we need to have the charging cord handy. That is, we cannot do the online work or play games without a socket nearby.
5.   Be Careful with Unfamiliar WiFi Networks
When using WiFi in coffee shops, hotels, airports, and other public places, be careful since the networks may not be secure. Some hackers may send a malware package to our computer and do some illegal operations. We can use a VPN to encrypt out connection and repel attacks.
6.   Update Programs and Windows Operating System
Keeping our computer up-to-date is a very important computer maintenance tip. Microsoft always keeps releasing many security and patch updates to improve PC performance and keep the system secure.
We should check for updates on a regular basis and make sure they are installed as soon as possible. Otherwise, the computer may be attacked due to the out-of-date vulnerabilities, especially when connected to the Internet.
Besides system update, we should also keep our programs up-to-date.
7.   Do Not Download Unauthorized Programs
Make sure the unauthorized programs are not downloaded and installed to our programs. Or else, an unmonitored backdoor is open, leading to serious consequences. To know when and where this problem occurs, we can see the incoming packet logs and program installation logs.
8.   Uninstall Some Unwanted Programs Regularly
On our computer, there may be some programs that are installed without our knowledge. Accumulated programs may take up much disk space and impact the performance of the computer.
We should uninstall these unwanted programs regularly. We can use a professional uninstaller like CCleaner to completely remove them.
9.   Run an Antimalware
Malicious programs and viruses are always threatening our computer and they may attack the PC but we don’t know. And our personal files and private information may be stolen.
So, to keep our PC safe, we can download and install antimalware, run it, and perform a full scan. Once malicious programs and viruses are found, remove them. Malwarebytes, McAfee, Norton, etc. can be our good options.
10. Back up Our PC Automatically
Data loss and system breakdown always happen accidentally. And we need to spend much time getting the lost files back or finding solutions to fix the crash issue. This is troublesome and the result may not be good.
But if we have backups, we can easily recover lost data and restore the PC to a normal state. So, backing up our PC is very important and it is one of the crucial PC maintenance tips.
To do this work, we can use a professional PC backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker. With it, we can back up files, folders, disks, and partitions automatically. Also, it allows us to only back up the newly added or changed data.
Conclusion
These are essential computer maintenance tips and they are helpful for us to keep our PC running properly. Just follow them to maintain a computer.
