Tommy Logic™

It can be an angering experience to press your PC's power button and nothing happens. It's also an agitating computing experience to see your computer go from lighting fast to molasses slow. To extend the life of your PC and keep it running in the best condition possible - here are 10 Tips For a Healthy PC.

10 Tips For a Healthy PC and Faster Performance

1. Clean Out Your System Unit

   The inside of your PCs tower or desktop case gathers dust and dirt over time. This is because of the electrical charge inside the case and the incoming air while your PC uses it's fans to cool sensitive parts such as the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).
   At least once a year, you should remove the access panel and blow the dust and dirt out of the case with a can of compressed air. You will want to blow away the dust off of the optical drives, hard drives, processor, behind the motherboard and all of the other parts in the case. Be sure to follow the directions on the can of compressed air also.

2. Clean Your Keyboard and Mouse

   Over time, your keyboard can accumulate dust, dirt and other foreign matter (sandwich crumbs, candy, peanuts etc). This can be cleaned out also by using the same can of compressed air. Simply tilt the keyboard vertically and use short bursts of air between the columns of keys in a downward motion. This will blow the debris from the top of the keyboard to the bottom and out. (Remember to follow the directions on the can of compressed air for use, storage and disposal) For mice that have a ball, remove the cover plate and clean the ball with warm water and mild soap and dry. Clean the rollers inside of the mouse with a lint-free swab and alcohol. Place the ball inside the mouse and replace the cover plate. If you use an optical mouse, there are no moving internal parts and cleaning inside the mouse is not needed.

3. Remove Unwanted Programs and Files

   Programs and files that are no longer utilized can take up lots of hard drive space. This creates longer access times when your computer has to search through thousands of files to find the one you need.
   When you have a program that you no longer use, uninstall the program using either the programs uninstall wizard or your computer's uninstall utility. When files are of no longer any use, remember to delete them also. Don't forge to empty your recycle bin.

4. Delete Your Cookies

   Cookies can benefit your Internet experience by saving the data from visited web sites. However if the web sites that you frequent are constantly changing, cookies are of no use to you - they only take up hard drive space. Many anti-virus software suites contain maintenance utilities that can delete your cookies. If you do not own a software package with this feature, you can use your computers utility program to delete the cookies. Using Microsoft Windows, this utility can be found by following this path.
   Left Click the Start Button ~ Programs ~ Accessories ~ System Tools ~ Disk Clean Up
   You will want to perform this utility on all of your PCs internal hard drive at least once every two weeks.

5. Disk Defragmentation

   Perform a disk Defragmentation on a monthly basis. This utility is a process that eliminates fragmentation in system files. It does this by physically reorganizing the content of the hard drive in order to place the files closer together and creates larger spaces for future information to be saved. Many anti-virus software suites include a Defragmentation program. If yours includes this software, just follow the directions for hard drive defragmentation. If not, access your Windows operating system disk defragmenter by using the following path.
   Left Click the Start Button ~ Programs ~ Accessories ~ System Tools ~ Disk Defragmenter
   
   
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