Maintaining Your PC

Basil Darkratte

Site Founder
As some of you know, Im taking classes to be a Computer Technician. And I have a few tips for you to maintain your computer, some you most likely never heard of.

  1. Make sure your computer is in the right environment, ( Out of Direct Sunlight, not near anything that gives off Heat, etc)
  2. Check that air Vents on the computer case or monitor are not blocked by Books, drapes, paper, etc. This will cause the Computer to over heat, because of the lack of air.
  3. ( Most Important) Make sure the inside of the computer case is free from dust. Use an antistatic vacuum blower, or can of compressed air to blow the dust out of the case. Clean Vents, power supply and fans. You should always clean out the inside of your computer at least twice a year. If you don't, the dust will build up, and the computer, will slow down and overheat. This is what a Dust did to a PC.

Dust.jpg
dust filled computer.png


Compressed Air:
clean your computer.jpg


An important note, If you are going to clean out your computer by yourself, make sure you have an Anti static wrist band.
unnamed.jpg

The Anti static wrist band prevents any static from damaging the computer. Even the Slighest amount of static, would damgage the motherbroad, making it useless. So before you go opening up your computer, make sure you have that anti static wrist band. Or, you can let a Technician to do it for you, or better yet, you can buy a dust cover for your computer, (however dust may still find a way inside.)

4. Protect your computer from power surges. When using devices like computers, TVs, etc, Use a Surge protector. This would help the ( in this case, computer) from being damaged, from a power surge, or "Spike", that can come from lighting strikes, or even brownouts.

A Brownout is a " Sag" in the power. This is when the lights dim. But it's after the browout, where your computer can get damaged. After the brownout, ( A brownout last a few seconds) when the lights come back on full, there is a Surge.
A Brownout happens more times then you think. Brownouts can occurr when the AC is being turned on, or even a Hair Drier thats being used. These things use a lot of power, and can " Drain" power. Causing the lights to dim.

This is a part of what I know. Feedback would be great!
 
You should also make sure to Defragment your computer and delete any unneeded files. If you have an HP computer its all done for you within the Tune-Up option. For others you'll have to find it in your help/setup/maintain. Defragmenting has your computer reroute itself avoiding files that are not needed. Its way of finding a better route through a maze ;) Making your computer faster and less laggy.

Overall very nicely done Basil!
 
Be sure to have an anti virus software that can scan your computer for viruses, etc. Viruses can damage your computer, even when you don't expect it. You may have a virus deleting important system files without you even knowing it. This will cause the computer to loose important data and make your computer unable to process memory. Not only are viruses harmful to your system, they can also steal personal data such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, and even your password! Be sure to run weekly or even daily scans to check for viruses. If you find a virus or another file, stay calm and see if you can remove it. If you can't there is something you can do to revert your system back to an earlier date, removing the virus.
This is for XP, Vista and 7 can just search for "System Restore"
First, go to Start
Then, All Programs
Go to Accessories
Go to System Tools
Select System Restore
Pick a restore point from the system's "calender".
What this basically does is revert your computer back to an earlier date. Say you got a virus and you can't remove it. Also, say I got this virus on Wednesday. I can revert my computer back to an earlier Restore Point that happens whenever your system updates itself or you install a key software such as Adobe. After you pick a restore point that happened before your computer got the virus, wait for the sequence of restarting to finish, and you should be good.
 
Another thing I forgot to say, if you are going to open the computer by yourself, unplug it, and let sit for at least 30 mins. If you do not wait, there's a chance that you'll get shocked by the capacitors. Capacitors stores power for a short time. Have you ever wondered why when you unplug your digital clock, and plug it back in, it doesn't reset? Its the Capacitors that hold the power so that it can keep going. The same with computers, if you are working on something and the power goes off, there is a chance that your computer saved the work. So the next time you open it, it'll say: "Windows has found unsaved documents from your last visit. Would you like to open them?"
Keep in mind though, that this doesn't always work
 
Make sure that the correct date is on the computer, incorrect years/months can throw it off and it will not do certain updates that it needs to do. My computer didn't have the correct year for some reason, and about two weeks after I bought it, it shut down permanently. Updates are set for days, years, and months. Like a McAfee Security Center update which saved my computer several times was scheduled for 10/6/05 and the computer's date was set 8/9/03. Eventually it got pounded with viruses and the hard drive was completely useless. Dates are alot more important than something to tell you if you are late for a meeting when it comes to computers.... (same goes for laptops, obviously.)
And don't download things you know you won't use. It takes up space and valuable memory from your computer, which is obvious but some people just don't know.
 
i have to do the dust thing on my gaming laptop... you would not believe how much accumulates in a small amount of time...

Especially if the user is like me ... who eats while playing all the time ... :p (talking about keyboard). But yes, in all seriousness, I'm surrounded by hardware-software literate ppl in my house. Compressed air spray can is a best friend; it's good to clean up the keyboard too.
 
Basil Darkratte said:
it can be in the same place
Ok, thanks.

For Mac Users: After using the Mac for a few months/years, it may start to lag because of excess 'stuff' building up. I'd suggest that you use a free program called 'Onyx' for maintaining your computer. It checks S.M.A.R.T. status, correct disk permissions, fragmentation, etc. I routinely verify/repair disk permissions just to keep my computer running the way it should be. Also, it can clear caches, but I would suggest you hold off on that for this program. It may mistake POTCO launcher for a 'malignant tumor' in your computer.

For cache clearing, I suggest using another program called 'MacKeeper.' It has a free download (for only a certain amount of time/data clearing) and also an option to buy the complete package (hold off on that if your computer doesn't need it). This is somewhat a combination of Norton Anti-Virus, Monolingual, and a very large recycling bin. It systematically sweeps your Mac, checking for viruses, unused parts of applications, unneeded computer logs, and unused languages. From here, it gives you a list of everything that it would like to clear, and all you have to do is uncheck the things that might affect other everyday applications. I would be especially careful with the 'Caches' section, because POTCO relies on a lot of these caches.
 
Don't let your computer get overworked in the summer time. With the hot air, and the computer's hot air which comes from places like the processeor, Your computer can become very hot very fast. If you do nothing, ( Your computer can give you a warning,or it can shut it's self down) your computer can burn-out,( you would see smoke coming from the computer) Which can also be caused by Overclock it. Which is what Hardcore gamers do.
You can have you AC on, but make sure its not on the same circuit as the computer, because that would overload the circuit.

This is one of the reasons why the computer has a fan and a Heatsink, ( Heatsink moves the heat away, while the fan blows it away. If it was removed this is what will happen:


I do not suggest what the guy did at the end;)
 
ROFL!!! What was he thinking ... might as well take a swim :D, definitely cool it off and retire it for eternity (well, those drips also did retire it). So he 'sacrificed' a computer just to make a YouTube video? Maybe because it was old, he was going to wreck it anyway.
 
ROFL!!! What was he thinking ... might as well take a swim :D, definitely cool it off and retire it for eternity (well, those drips also did retire it). So he 'sacrificed' a computer just to make a YouTube video? Maybe because it was old, he was going to wreck it anyway.

It was just one of those CPU's he does tests on I guess. He makes other videos like this. So he knows what he is doing... I hope
 
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