St Bridget’s day has come and gone and now is the time to start spring cleaning. Computer housekeeping is actually the term used to describe the maintenance of your computer.
Externally, Alcohol pads can be used to clean the keyboard and the mouse, but not for the computer monitor this can be cleaned with a soft slightly damp cloth. Around the back of the computer, dust should be removed with a vacuum cleaner
Internally the Disk drive store files which can loosely be described as:
- System files: the operating system,
- Computer programs: e.g. e-mail, internet browser, word processing.
- Security programs: anti-virus, firewall, spyware.
- Data files, photos, documents,
Each of these will benefit from maintenance and a good starting point is to find out what operating system you have, then, keep it up-to-date, for Windows systems use Windows update and for Apple use Software Update. Setting system restore points on PC’s can save you a lot of time, as they allow you to restore the computers internal registry to a previous state. The Time Machine application on Macs provide the facility for automatically backing up your system to an external hard disk.
Always have an up-to-date anti-virus program and firewall. There are free versions available such as AVG, which do not provide the same protection as a paid for version but they do provide some protection.
Remove any unused or unwanted programs from your computer, on a PC this can be done with the Add/remove programs option in the Control Panel. On the Mac locate the program in the Applications folder and drag it to Trash.
To organise your work store all of your files in folders in Documents on your computer, storing files in one place makes it easier to find them afterwards.
Delete unwanted files and empty the recycle bin or Trash. E-mails should be regularly archived or deleted , remember to empty the deleted items folder.
Disk clean and defragmenting of drives should form part of your monthly maintenance.
An organized house is something akin to an organized computer, less stressful, you know where things are when you need them.
