In the last one I talked about House Keeping and the importance of that. This article is going to focus on things that you can do to prevent many of the issues from happening hopefully in the first place. There is no way of ever running into any problems, but the probability can be lowered though.
Preventive
So what are preventive things that you can take with your computer? There are many things that you can do and it is a very broad subject to talk about. One of the best things to do is avoid installing tons of software on your computer. Although not avoidable in all situations you should try to limit it. So don't let the kids install games and other things from the internet as this can lead to mass software conflicts. The newer Windows Operating systems like Home and Professional help to address some of these issues with privileges they must still be setup originally though. The best thing to do is to have a dedicated computer for the kids to use for their games.
Along with avoiding software it is best to make sure that the software you are running is approved for the Operating System and hardware that you are trying to run it one. I know everybody is not going to go out and buy a new PC every year or even every couple of years, but don't except that all software is going to be compatible with your older hardware. Generally, it might run slower, but there are many of the new games that won't install if you are not running the minimum requirements. This could turn a new birthday or Christmas gift into a potential disaster. The same goes with many of the newer devices these days.
Even if you are running the some of the newest hardware or software is it really all that new. Software is can be updated without notice. These changes are called Service Packs or Patches. These changes help to address certain reported problems that customers have found since it started shipping. Now in the age of the Internet it is easy to get these updates, but sometimes you have to manually do it though. Companies like Microsoft, Creative Labs and Autodesk have ways to help you identify these updates. Some of these companies even help to make the process even easier with programs that monitor for new patches on a server.
If you are running Microsoft Windows, which many out there do. Make sure that you are running your Windows Update utility on a regular basis or enable it to automatically download and install the files. This will help to ensure that your Operating System is running at the best possible level it can. These updates can also ensure better security on the computer to protect you from potential attacks on your personal documents. You also might want to check from time to time for updated hardware drivers. Drivers are used for software to talk to your hardware. These can be potential issues for things like games or CAD software when it comes to graphic cards.
Finally, one of the things that you can use to help catch potential hard drive issues early on is to run Scandisk. This should be run in conjunction with Disk Defragmenter, but I would recommend to run it more likely every other month as it can take a while with the new larger drives. Hard drives have gotten better over the years, but they still do fail and that is why it is best to have a backup of your important files.
I will write the final article in this series of three in the up coming days it will be focused on the Necessary things in this day and age of computing. These articles are to help you understand in general thing things that you should be looking at and are not the only things or ways of maintaining your computer.
Sincerely,
Lee Ambrosius
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