We have put together 5 tips for you to consider at home or the office. They will help you keep a handle on your machine before it gets out of control. The aim is to keep your system light and functioning in its optimal state. All software mentioned in the this article is available for download at bottom of the page.
1. Do not use internet explorer
We’re pro Microsoft here at nuComputing but IE is a big no no with us.
- Alternative – Google Chrome or our favourite, Firefox.
2. Do not hibernate your desktop or laptop computer
The hibernation snapshot gets stored onto your computer which can take up to 2-4GB of data and overtime will cause hangs and your system performance to degrade if you continue to hibernate instead of a clean-boot.
- Alternative – Shut down your system at least once a day if you do use hibernate.
3. Performing a disk clean up
of temporary internet files, cookies, and browser history. Every website you go to, or email account you log into, etc, gets stored to a temporary location on your computer that just sits there and builds up over time. Cleaning this will help to maintain a fast and safe browsing experience.
- Right click on C:\, click on properties, select disk clean up, check off every option, then click on Ok.
4. Scanning your computer for malware
malicious software that can put a halt to your computers usability, on weekly scheduled basis.
- Recommended solution – Malwarebytes.
It’s free to evaluate and can delete any unknown infections your system could be currently harbouring during the evaluation period.
5. Perform a physical cleaning of your computer
at least once a month – Open up your computer case, purchase a can of compressed air and spray the CPU fan and heatsink, power supply fan, motherboard chipset fan and heatsink, and any other case fans. Once you’ve done this, you can spray the rest of the components to clears chunks of dust that has collected in the process of cleaning. This will help keep the fans pushing air properly through the heatsinks to dissipate heat.
For laptops you can spray the air intake and exhaust ports to clear any dust build up.