Helpful Tips on Computer Maintenance

A computer that is 5 years old or more can still perform like brand new if you only know how to take care of it. Well, taking care of a computer is just simple. Just the basic things, use the computer properly, get some softwares for computer maintenance, and run various programs that are needed to be run to ensure computer's smooth performance.

Specifically, remember to:

# Follow the rule in shutting down computers. Until Windows has shut down, never turn your computer off with the power switch. Doing so will prevent temporary and/or permanent hard drive defects as well as prevent Windows problems.

# Maintain free space of 300 MB in your drive C. If you use Vista or Windows XP then make it 400-600 MB. Be aware that not maintaining enough free space for your drive C will cause the dumping of data to your hard drive that will eventually lead to slow performance.

# Secure Norton Utilities to get access of Cleansweep so you can clean up your drive for good computer performance. There are some other hard drive cleaners out there, so if you don't like using Cleansweep you are free to go for other options.

# Make use of the Add/Delete tool in the Windows Control Panel to get rid of the programs that are not anymore needed from your drive. This will help boost maximum performance of your computer.

# Get a firewall program in case you have a high speed Internet connection. Doing so will keep your computer away from hijackers. You shouldn't want somebody else run your computer.

# Have a virus checker in your computer and run it frequently. Viruses can seriously slow down your computer's performance or worst destroy your hard drive permanently. You can try Norton Antivirus or those free online virus checkers like Housecall by Trend Micro.

# Run the Defragment and Scandisk tools even just once a month. Doing so will keep your hard drive healthy. Be aware that if your hard drive is healthy, your computer will also perform at its best.

# In times like your computer starts to show symptoms for a serious registry trouble like for an instance freezes, hardware malfunctions, slow windows start ups, computer error messages, system32 error messages, and the like, secure a registry cleaner right away. There might be some errors and corrupt files in your registry. These errors and possible corrupt files will seriously compromise your computer's performance.