We repair many computers and laptops each week, but unfortunately this is often ‘closing the barn door after the horse has bolted’. Computers have a habit of dying at the worst possible time – like when an important project is due tomorrow, or before you copy family photos to a backup. The best option to prevent this is with preventative measures to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. Being proactive is better than repair after the fact. if you take care of all the computers in your house with a few simple steps you are protecting youself against both threats and system failure.
Keeping Anti-virus programs always up-to-date: While many homes have anti-virus software installed, they don’t often have the latest virus and threat definitions. These systems are at risk every minute they spend online, as the anti-virus simply will not pick up and stop an unknown threat.
New viruses and hacking threats arise every day, and there are entire companies dedicated to creating anti-virus updates to catch them. Make sure your anti-virus definitions are always up-to-date, This keeps your computer secure against even the newest viruses.
Keeping upto date with Software patches: Hackers like to spend their time figuring out new ways to break into computer systems. Software companies like Microsoft and Apple release regular patches to close these security holes. The patches are supposed to be applied automatically, but oftentimes that isn’t the case – patches didn’t download, were canceled or produced an error. by checking for updates manually and making sure that each patch has been applied successfully you can be sure your software is safe and secure. As an added advantage, any time new features are packaged into an update, you’ll find them already installed for you.
Early failure detection: Some parts in your computer send out alarm bells when they’re about to die. Unfortunately, they’re not literal alarm bells (that would be too convenient), but there is information in the the settings and log files that can be interpreted or manually checked if you know where and how to look. There is also software that can detect software or hardware failure like the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) on hard drives and solid state drives if this system detects your drive is about to fail it will alert you so you can prepare to replace your drive.
Data protection: Hard drives which store your information do eventually wear out, but they’re one of the parts that send out early failure warnings. There are many components to our devices today and having them maintained on a regular basis will prevent a shortened life span. Keeping your data safe is the most important part of preventive measures because components can be replaced once they fail but your data cannot be. having a backup plan is number one on your list of things to keep up to date.
Tune-ups: Even the most cared for computer will slow down over time. Hard drives become cluttered, operating systems corrupt and ghosts of uninstalled programs still remain. scheduling and run a regular maintenance routine will keep your system running in top condition and peak performance.
A lot of the magic of keeping your computer running happens entirely behind the scenes, so there is no disruption to your experience. You simply enjoy the benefits of your computer but it’s not without a lot of moving parts. You and your system has the very best security against threats when it’s properly maintained and you’ll soon notice that computer issues are a thing of the past.
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