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| Extend the life of your computer - part 2Routine maintenance on your system also includes taking proper care of your hard drive to prevent data loss. You may notice if your Windows-based system has been shut down improperly, it will run a program called scandisk. Scandisk checks your hard drive for errors, file fragments, corrupted directories, and more. It is a good idea to run scandisk at least every week to help catch small problems before they become big ones. Does your system run slow? When your system stores data, it writes it to your hard drive in the nearest available space it comes to. If it runs out of room while writing something, it may have to store the rest of the file on the opposite side of the hard drive. This can cause your files to become fragmented. To restore the speed you originally had you may want to try defrag. What this software does is take these scattered file parts and put them back together sequentially. What will they think of next? Well how about Microsoft’s disk cleanup utility. It will delete temporary files which are no longer needed, clean up the internet temp files directory, empty your trashcan, and several other things all on a timed schedule. You can also browse through other non-essential files and choose which ones to delete to free up even more space. There is even a nifty task scheduler, which can be programmed to run these utilities at night. There are also commercial programs like Windows Washer that will help. These will find leftovers from programs you’ve removed from your system, failed installations, and basic unneeded clutter to free up even more drive space. Also included in your maintenance regimen a good virus scanner. It is recommended that you have a memory resident version running in the background. Since viruses enter your system from external sources, it is especially important if you are on the Internet, reading email, or are using any form of removable media (floppies, zip disks, cdr/cdrw media). A common question people ask me is, should I leave my system on 24 hours a day? There are pros and cons You already know that heat can damage your computer. Any time the system is on, it draws in air, and with it, more dirt. If you leave it on all the time, you will be causing excessive wear and tear on the hard drive. By the same token, if you set up power saver functions to spin down the hard drive after X-minutes of inactivity you have almost eliminated that argument. Temperature changes are also hard on your system. Every time you turn the computer off, the chips inside cool down. When you turn it back on, they heat up again. This is turn flexes the chips and board, increasing the possibility of bad connections occurring. To answer the original question, no one really knows which is best at this time, but I prefer to leave my system on. If you do choose to leave your system running, make sure to reboot at least once a day. Why? Some software programs when they close do not release all the memory they used back into the memory pool. This can leave memory holes and fragmentation, and you may not have enough ram available for use with the next program you want to run. There is some work involved in taking care of your computer, but software tools can make the job easier. Set up a schedule, automate what you can, and you can help extend the life of your computer system.
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