What sort of maintenance should I be doing to my computer?

Question: What sort of maintenance should I be doing to my computer?

Answer: In order to keep your computer running in top condition, there are a few things that you can do. You can remove old programs that are no longer being used; clean out temporary internet files, cookies & web page history; and defragment your hard drive. To remove old programs, go to Start, then select Control Panel, then double click on Add or Remove Programs. This will bring up a separate window allowing you to remove programs that you are no longer using. To remove a program, simply select the program then choose Remove (or Change/Remove) to the right. Then follow the on screen instructions to remove the old software. To clean out temporary internet files & cookies, go to Start, select Control Panel, then double click on Internet Options (note, you may need to select Network and Internet Connections first, then Internet Options). Once you are in the Internet Options you can select Delete Files, Delete Cookies, and Clear History. When you have finished with those three you may then select Ok to close the Window. Another tool that you can use to help keep your computer running efficiently is to defragment your hard drive. When you install new programs, it may not get installed all on the same spot on your hard drive, therefore the hard drive has to check several places to access those files. Defragmenting your hard drive will rearrange the files so that they are in the same spot on the hard drive and therefore improve performance. To defrag your hard drive, go to Start, select All Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Disk Defragmenter. Next you can select Analyze, which will check to see if you need to defrag or not, once it has completed, either select Defragment or close the program. These steps performed monthly can help you keep your computer running efficiently.

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