The end of the year is a great time to reflect and make preparations for the coming year. One of the best ways you can enter the new year with a fresh, clean slate is by conducting some basic year-end computer maintenance. Yearly computer maintenance can extend the life of your equipment, give you peace of mind and stretch your budget – providing you with extra cash to do some of the things you want to do in the coming year.
The first thing you want to do for your year-end computer maintenance is to free up storage space. No sense wasting space with unwanted or useless files so go ahead and delete those and clean up your cookies (which should really be done automatically on a regular basis).
And…just like your tchotchkes, your computer can accumulate dust. Dust is worse for your computer though because it can reduce air flow, which can result in excessive heat. When the cooling efficiency of your computer is undermined, the result is often damage to your hardware and a shorter lifespan of your computer components. So, the next thing you want to do is to clean your computer with compressed air.
You can blow out your computer and peripherals with compressed air yourself if you choose. Just cover your furniture and carpet. Then turn off and unplug your computer. Open things up, and holding a can of compressed air a least a few inches away, spray the motherboard, processor, power supply (and dust filter underneath if there is one), memory and expansion cards in short bursts. Also remove any dust build-up from the case fans. For stubborn build-up on fans, you can use rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab. Your heat sink and fans mounted to your processor should be cleaned as well. If build-up is too heavy to remove with compressed air, remove and thoroughly clean and then apply new thermal grease.
Finally, you should have your hardware/hard drive tested to ensure that there are no issues that could cost you unnecessary time and money in the future. For this and the compressed air cleaning, if that seems a little daunting to tackle on your own, you can rely on the experienced computer techs at Computer “A” Services. We will keep your computer healthy and happy in the year ahead!