TechDish: Routine Maintenance on PC's

Posted on: Fri, 02/19/2010 - 13:05 — us104_techdish

Hey kiddies, today we're talking about Routine Maintenance Checks you can easily perform on your PC. All utilities we're talking about today come "onboard" any computer with a windows operating system, and while the screenshots and instructions are all taken from Windows Vista, the processes and principals should be equivalent on most (if not all) flavors of the Windows Operating System.

Tip #1: Disk Defragmentation

As we use our computers, our hard drives become a bit scrambled as we add files, delete files, move files and the like. As the disk sectors become more and more fragmented through this natural occurance, our hard drive's efficiency goes down as it has to work harder and harder to seek out the data you need for your computer to operate. Enter the Disk Defragment Utility.

What does it do?

The disk defragment utility (or "defrag" for short) compiles all the fragmented data on your PC's hard drive into a more organized fashion, consolidating all data into orderly fashion on the sectors of your hard drive. This improves your hard drive's efficiency when seeking out data, effectively speeding up your overall system in the process. We recommend you run a hard drive defrag at least once per month.

How to do it?

1. In the Windows Start Menu, go to Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Degragmenter.
   
2. Click Defragment now… to run an immediate defragmentation of your hard drive
3. You can also set up Disk Defragmenter to run on a set schedule (TechDish recommends this)

Tip #2: Check Disk

Here's to a healthy hard drive! The Windows Check Disk or chkdsk is a utility that checks for corruption and repairs errors and bad sectors on the hard drive. Note that check disk cannot run while Windows is loaded, so this one requires a restart of your system to perform the check.

Also Note: This will take about 20 minutes or so to finish, depending on how big your hard drive is. Do not stop chkdsk once it has started, let it finish. Interrupting chkdsk could cause errors on your hard drive. When you restart to chkdsk, you will only have 10 seconds to press a key to cancel chkdsk. Check for a sticky keyboard key stuck down. It will cancel the chkdsk at startup.

How to do it?

1. Open the Start Menu.
2. Click on the Computer button.
3. Right click on your hard drive and click on Properties.
4. Click on the Tools tab.
5. Click on Check Now under the Error checking section. (See circled below)
   
6. Click on Continue in the User Access Control (UAC) prompt.
7. Make sure both options are checked: Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors (See screenshot below)
   NOTE: The Automatically fix file system errors box will be checked by default.
8. Click on the Start button.
   
9. You will get a pop-up window saying, "Windows can't check this disk while it's use". (See screenshot below)
10. Click on the Schedule disk check button for chkdsk to run the next time you restart your computer.
    

Tip #3: Run Windows Updates!

Yes, this has been talked about before, but we cannot emphasize this one enough. Running Windows Updates has huge benefits for your system's health, stability and security. On a weekly basis Microsoft releases a round of security updates, bug fixes and patches for your Operating System that keep your system running clean.

How to do it?

By default, Windows update should run automatically. However, this is worth a double-check. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In the Windows Start Menu, go to Control Panel and double-click Windows Update (Windows XP/ME/2000/98 users, this is called Automatic Updates).
2. Click Check for Updates (on the left column menu)
   
3. If there are any updates available, click to Download and Install them
4. You can also change how Windows Update downloads updates on a scheduler by clicking Change Settings

Software Highlight: TuneUp Utilities

Want a tool that can automate many of these processes for you? How about a tool that does even more? TuneUp Utilities is an all-in-one solution for performing many of your routine maintenance tasks, so you don't have to worry about them yourself. What's more, TuneUp Utilities has Registry tools that will detect and repair errors in your system registry, and includes a System Optimizer that will guide you through getting the most out of your PC now, and for the long haul.

TuneUp Utilities is highly touted by us at TechDish—you will find it being used on our computers too! What's more, IDEaS Computers stocks TuneUp Utilities in-house. Why not come pick up your copy today?