How to Maintain your PC Service-Free

Do it yourself!

An ill-maintained PC has got to be one of the most frustrating issues that you can have if you work with computers often, especially if your computer is running slowly. However, there are a number of things you can do to improve the speed of your computer without taking it in for servicing.

Computer with a tool box

Manage your programs

Many computers that you will buy will have ‘bloatware’ installed on it already. Bloatware is stuff like trial software or support software that you don’t want. There is a fairly good chance that this software will never be used, so be sure to uninstall it. You can un-install programs on Windows machines by accessing the ‘Programs and Features’ menu in the Control Panel.

Disable start-up programs

If your computer takes ages to start up, then the most likely cause is that you have a fair number of start-up programs enabled. Most of these programs will automatically be enabled without your knowledge. If you are running on a Windows machine, you can run the program ‘msconfig.exe’(you can find it by typing msconfig into the search bar), under the startup tab you can check which programs will run at start-up. Startup Inspector provides guidance on what is necessary, optional, or undesirable to run at startup.

Update your drivers

If you haven’t updated your drivers for your hardware yet, it is highly recommended that you get it done now. From personal experience, keeping updated drivers can solve a number of problems that you would have running new programs. While you’re at it, be sure to check for a BIOS update for your machine as well. On a windows machine, you can update your drivers in the ‘Device Manager’ section of the control panel. As for your BIOS, you will most likely have to go to your manufacturer’s website to get any updates to the BIOS for your machine.

Clean up

If your PC is running very slow, it might be time to do some housekeeping for your hard drive. If your hard drive has less than 10% free space, then your computer will start to run slower. To keep your hard drive clean, you can use the ‘Disk Cleanup’ feature to remove files that you will most likely never use. You should also check your hard disk for any errors, and do a defragmentation. All of these tools are available to you by right-clicking your drive (most likely C:), and selecting Properties. Disk Cleanup will be under the General tab, and the error-checking and defrag tools will be under the Tools tab.

Format

If all else fails, the (almost) guaranteed way to get your computer running like new, is to literally reset it to a new state. Provided your hardware is still functioning properly, a complete re-formatting of your computer will make your computer run just as good as new. Most store-bought computers will have a factory image already installed, so you can reset it to its factory state. You can access the factory image through the Control Panel -> Recovery -> Advanced Recovery Methods. In this menu, you can also choose another image you might have. If you do not have an image, you can completely re-format your computer, but you will have to re-install Windows . Keep in mind you WILL lose all your data, and you will have to uninstall any bloatware that you don’t want again.  To format your PC you will need recovery, and/or install media in order to do this (and you will want to make sure your data and applications can be reinstalled). If you don’t have too much data to back up, you can try Dropbox (as of March 2013, it gives you 2GB of free cloud storage), or use a USB flash drive. For a lot of data, you might have to invest into getting an external hard drive. 

Hopefully this article will have been of use to making your computer run just a little better. One tool that is popular that can do most of these features is CCleaner, so be sure to have a look at it, and keep your PC in tip-top shape!

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References

[i] [PC Maintenance]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18tkd5cmt2w1hjpg/original.jpg