Just like any machine, your computer too needs some care and cleaning for it to be running smoothly for years. Computers are the most looked over the piece of tech when it comes to maintenance as they are always in use and that combined with our busy lives makes it even harder to give it a proper cleanup. Since we all are huddled in our homes for a few weeks due to the Coronavirus, this is time we can utilise to clean up our PCs and get it all shiny again. Follow our tips to get started.
Scan
We all have an antivirus installed on to our systems be it from Quick Heal, Norton or Windows own Defender. These antiviruses do a great job at proactively protecting us but need a full system scan to clean every corner of our system. These scans can take up to hours and so is avoided. With all this time, feel free to run a full system scan and remove and potentially hidden viruses that might be on your system.
Defragment your disk
Your Hard disks store all the data that’s on your systems and sometimes it can get overworked and become slow. A slow hard disk will lead to a slower data retrieval thus making your system slow. A way to increase data retrieval speed is dis defragmentation. Defragmentation brings all the pieces of a file together that are fragmented across the disk. To do this-
1 Click on Start
2Programs
3 Accessories
4 System tools
5 Disk Defragmenter
Disk Clean Up
Cleaning your disk of unwanted or temporary files not only makes room but also increases the performance of your Hard Disk. To do this use the Disk Cleanup and to do so-
1 Click Start
2 All Programs
3 Accessories
4 System Tools
5 Disk Cleanup
Back-Up
It is always a good idea to back up your data in case your drive fails or you upgrade to a new computer. You can back up by doing the following-
1 Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
2 Do one of the following:
If you’ve never used Windows Backup before, or recently upgraded your version of Windows, select Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
If you’ve created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by selecting Back up now.
If you’ve created a backup before, but want to make a new, full backup rather than updating the old one, select Create new, full backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
Partition
It’s a good idea to partition your drives and keep the system OS and other files separate. This prevents cross corruption of drives and also allows for better organisation and management.
You can partition the disk by using Window’s Partitioning tool. To open it, type partition into the search bar, then click on Create and format hard disk partitions. Shrink the existing partition. Right-click the partition and select Shrink Volume. It may take a while Eventually, a dialogue box will ask how much you want the partition shrunk. The default number will be the maximum available.
Physical Cleaning
As important as it is to clean your system from the software side, it is equally important to do so with the actual hardware. Keeping your hardware clean will allow your devices to last longer and look better. To clean your monitor, use a soft lint-free cloth. You can either use it to wipe it dry or with the cloth dampened with water. Do the same with the keyboard. Don’t saturate the cloth as it might cause water-related damage to your internals.
You can clean the ports and the air intake by blowing air into it using compressed air.