There are many ways to keep your computer running smoothly and many different opinions on which are best. Although we cannot prevent mechanical type problems with your computer we can recommend things that will help keep your hardware/software/network running much more efficiently. We maintain many computers including the ones for our company and have found the items here to work the best.

The type of maintenance you perform to your computer greatly depends on the type of activity, the number of users, the frequency of use and what is installed. We use all of our computers multiple times daily ranging from web development to lab testing and they are all integrated close by one another so we can jump from computer to computer as necessary. In computer terminology you want your CPU, Disk(s) and Memory to work in conjunction with each other and therefore should be thinking about each component when addressing the maintenance associated with each.

Windows (98, ME, XP) disk related maintenance:

restore point - while the restore point will not capture all system settings and configuration it does a good job of capturing the things the system needs to revert itself in the event there is a need to do so. This step should be done before any configuration or settings changes.

- click start->programs->accessories->system->system restore

The maintenance associated with the CPU and memory are minimal unless you are upgrading these components or are experiencing slow processing after perform diagnostic/maintenance/performance items. We will discuss more on the CPU and Memory when we discuss the performance. This leaves us with the disk (hard disk drive or drives).

- click my computer->rt click c->properties->click disk cleanup->

The check-boxes should all be checked except "Compress Old Files" as this can take an extremely long time depending on how often this step is performed. Select OK then wait for the process to complete.

- click my computer->rt click c->properties->click tools->defragment now

The defrag utility will keep the information on your pc aligned in contiguous form so it is more efficiently read into memory when it is utilized.

c:\windows\prefetch – select all – delete - Navigating to this area on your hard drive (primary drive if you have more than one) will enable Windows to continue running smoothly especially when it starts. After cleaning this area you may notice a couple of seconds delay in starting Windows and that is because all programs that Windows uses to start up are stored here in a common place so Windows finds them faster.

c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temp - This area should always remain clean of too many items and it is usually safe to remove them all (some items may not be removable immediately as Windows may have them locked for its use. In this case booting the machine in safe mode will allow you to remove all items).

c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\temporary internet files - Depending on the browser you use, this is the area that IE6 and IE7 retain clutter depending on the settings within the browser. Nonetheless it is always good to keep this area clutter free.

rt click recycle bin->empty recycle bin - Many times the items you delete from you hard drive wind up in the garbage pale located on your desktop. Keeping this area clean will help your system process as you perform tasks or navigate around your computer. The only caution is when you clean this area, items are gone for good so just make sure these items can be deleted before clearing it out.

The other two disk related maintenance items for discussing are the browser settings and registry. The browser settings (too many to list here) will help your web surfing especially when the cache are is cleaned on a regular basis. Many of the browsers have the capability to clear the temporary cache area when you exit the browser, select this option. The other area for maintenance is the registry and this should not be done manually unless you are very comfortable with doing so (for this get a good registry clean utility such as Norton System Works).