10 Tips to Prevent Your Computer from Crashing
Posted in Tips & Tricks | By AhTim @ December 23rd, 2009
Image by Tony Maro
Few things are as devastating as be right in the middle of an important project only to have your computer suddenly crash without any warning. Even if you’re not in the middle of anything important, you still have tons of files stored on your computer that (unless you’ve recently backed up your files) are going to be gone forever.
Although a computer crash often comes on suddenly when you’re least expecting it, occasionally you may get some warning signs. Also, although you can’t always stop it from happening, there are some preventative measures that you can take to decrease the chance of it happening to you.
- Defragment your hard drive at least once every 2 months. While some people only do this every year, there are actually many people who have never defragment their drives because they’re unfamiliar with the process and its importance. Defragmenting your hard drive will help keep it healthy and it’s something you can easily do yourself.
- Get a good anti-virus program and update it at least once a week. Some people actually update it every day on start-up. Most of the programs allow you to schedule the updates and the virus scan to run on a schedule that you choose.
- Make sure all important updates for your computer are done as needed. They are there for a reason – to keep your computer healthy and current with all new information and data. Also, make sure to run an adware/spyware tool at least once a week as well. You can find many free ones online that you can download. Finally, keep your firewall and pop-up blocker turned on to prevent intrusion into your computer.
- Delete all of your temporary internet files. Make sure the offline files are deleted as well. You can easily do this while on the Internet by going to “tools” on the top Internet Explorer and then selecting “internet options”. Remove cookies on a regular basis as well as any unused files that are on your computer. By keeping your computer free from unnecessary “junk”, you’re also helping to keep your hard drive healthier.
- Provide regular maintenance on your email. By this I mean delete your spam emails and bulk immediately after receiving them. Any unknown emails should also be deleted. Only open email attachments that you know are from reliable sources. Make sure you have good spam and virus protection on your email.
- Back-up your computer on a regular basis – at least once a week, if not more. Put your data on a removable disk or tape. (Or better yet, back it up online) If your computer does crash, you won’t be sorry you were so diligent about back-ups.
- Beware of what you download from the internet. Only download programs that are from secure sites that you know you can trust.
- Pay attention to what your computer may be telling you. If it’s making an unusual noise, have it checked out. It could be the CPU fan, which is needed to keep the processor cool. If it malfunctions, it can cause all kinds of expensive damage.
- Avoid dust and smoke around your computer. Accumulation of dust, smoke, pet hair, etc. can also cause damage to the insider components of your PC.
- Avoid having too many programs start-up when your computer turns on. Only have what you need open.
If you follow this advice, you should be able to avoid most of the major causes of computer crashes.
About the author:
Storagepipe Solutions is a leading provider of email archiving and server backup solutions for large and mid-sized companies.This is a guest post. If you would like to contribute, please contact me.
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Tags: backup computer, computer crash, computer maintenance, defrag hard drive, minimise start up program
December 24th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
My office is currently running on a P2P network with Windows 98 (7 users). I will be getting 3 new employees and I’m considering moving to a Client/server based network running on Windows XP/Windows 2003 Server because the system is just so slow keeps crashing and I have backup problems.