Make sure that you do not try anything that are not experienced in.
"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, " Follow these steps to stop PC problems.
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 non-optical 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
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.
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.
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