How To Feed & Care For Your Windows Computer

Owning a Windows computer requires a great amount of responsibility. You'd be surprised to find out how many people think a computer is nothing more than a simple appliance like a refrigerator, range, or toaster. But yet they expect it to function flawlessly without realizing that it must be fed and cared for in much the same way as one would feed and care for the family dog. Eventually, their computer will get sick, break down, and may even die.

Here are some pointers every computer owner must consider if they want to have the most reliable computing experience. Failing to follow these simple guidelines will surely result in frustration on your part when your computer finally breaks down.

Anti-Virus Software
By far, the most important factor in maintaining a healthy computer is ensuring that it has anti-virus software installed. This is like giving your puppy its very first shots against communicable dog diseases and illnesses. But wait! You cannot simply install anti-virus software and forget about it. You must make sure that your computer receives regular anti-virus updates in much the same way your puppy receives booster and annual shots to keep the protection current. Forgetting to check that your computer is receiving weekly anti-virus updates is asking for trouble because your anti-virus software is only as good as the last update it received.

Many brand new computers come with anti-virus already installed. One common mistake people make is to set up their email accounts before they update their anti-virus software. Imagine that, new computer right out of the box set up and connected to the internet and you're in such a hurry to email to your Aunt Hazel you set up your email account before updating your anti-virus. Then you click your "Send/Receive" button and here comes a bunch of email for you. Before you can say "gotcha" your computer has become infected and now you're facing the aggravation of having to clean a virus infected computer. Remember, you usually cannot install anti-virus software onto an infected computer so it must first be cleaned.

Critical and Security Updates
The second most important factor for maintaining a healthy computer is ensuring that it receives regular security and critical updates. Right out of the box your computer is as vulnerable as a new-born baby! It has not yet received the most recent critical and security updates which help to protect it against malicious internet software designed to invade and take over your computer. Microsoft Windows operating systems are particularly vulnerable and should have all available critical and security updates applied before browsing websites other than Microsoft's Update Center.

Nowadays most new computers shipped with Microsoft Windows advertise that they have the latest Service Pack already installed. My oh my! The things manufacturer will tell you just to get your money! What they won't tell you is that there have been oodles of individual critical updates released since that last Service Pack.  If you don't already know, a "service pack" is an accumulation of all the critical and security updates that apply to that version of Microsoft operating system up to the date that the Service Pack was released. Do you already see the problem here? Microsoft's Service Pack 2 was released quite some time ago and there have been many more individual critical and security updates released since. Now do you still want to browse the internet before making sure you have downloaded and installed each and every security update? 

Electrical Power, Surge Protection and Battery Backup
Just like a puppy, a computer has to eat except it gets fed a steady stream of electricity. All seems to go well until there is a power outage or power surge. You should seriously think twice before you plug your computer directly into that wall outlet. Remember, a computer is not a simple appliance and it does require special care and power feeding requirements.

The first thing you should consider is the purchase of an Uninterruptible Power Supply, often referred to as a UPS. A good UPS will provide temporary protection against power outages and will absorb the harmful effects of a power surge or power spike. Sometimes there are power dips that would otherwise cause your computer to reboot while you were in the middle of typing a long document. A good UPS will protect your computer against these electrical abnormalities and in the event of a complete power failure, will give you anywhere from four to fifteen minutes to save your work and gracefully shutdown your system until the power is restored.

Some folks on a budget will only purchase a surge protector. While that may work for a while, it will eventually fail and you'll need to buy another one. Furthermore, plain surge protectors do not provide battery backup power or maintain a steady stream of current in the event of a power dip. This will result in your computer rebooting itself so you might ask yourself what are the effects of a spontaneous reboot.

Most operating systems are sensitive and have a required shutdown process they must go through in order to protect the hard drives file system. There are system files that are open during operation and other files that need to be saved to the hard drive through a proper shutdown process. Interrrupt that process and you may end up with corrupted

files and to your dismay you won't know until you attempt to reboot your computer. One of the most common being the "operating system not found" error message.

Overheating and Other Maintenance Considerations
You'd be surprised at how many people neglect to perform maintenance on their computers. Do you have your teeth professionally cleaned at least once a year? Do you religiously change the oil in your car every 3000 miles or six months whichever occurs first? Well, you're to be commended if you do but if you don't perform regular maintenance on your computer you're in store for some expensive surprises.

The first thing to consider is that your computer generates heat. There are several parts that generate heat such as the power supply, central processing unit (CPU), hard disk drive, and your CD drive. That's why your computer is equipped with fans and that whirring noise you usually hear is the sign of a healthy cooling system. Typically, there are at least two fans in a computer system. One fan for the CPU and the other fan for the power supply designed to evacuate heat from the rear of your computer. Some power supply fans are equipped with two fans in order to be able to evacuate the higher levels of heat generated by higher powered CPUs.

The second thing to consider is that dust, pet dander, and even sticky nicotine smoke gets sucked into your computer. In case you happen to be a smoker, the ball bearing in your cooling fans are particularly affected by the sticky nature of nicotine smoke. Dust and smoke will eventually coat the sensitive electronic circuit boards with a layer of crud that retains heat and causes a buildup of static electricity. When that static electricity builds up beyond a certain level, it results in a phenomenon known as electrostatic discharge. This is similar to walking across a carpeted floor and touching a metallic object. Do you remember how sharp that static pop can be? Well, it can destroy components in your computer such as modems, ethernet cards, motherboards, and even your hard disk drive where all your critical files are stored.

Regular cleaning of your computer will eliminate these contaminant buildups and prolong the life and reliability of your computer. Shown at right is a picture of the same computer illustrated in the previous paragraph after it has been cleaned. 

Final Considerations
Remember, the proper feeding and caring of your computer is your ultimate responsiblity, not your computer manufacturer. It is designed to give you long lasting service provided that you take care of it and give it regular maintenance. Neglect to take care of the above listed items and it will be like that old Penzoil commercial in which the mechanic touts regular oil changes and declares, "you can pay me now or you can pay me later (for expensive repairs)."

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Disclaimer:
Please make sure that you possess the fundamental and required skill sets before you implement any advice or attempt to perform any troubleshooting steps we, or other websites, might recommend. You should also be advised that we have no control over how you perform any troubleshooting steps nor do we have any control over the content of other third-party websites you might visit that are listed in our weekly newsletter. We also do not know if you have patched your computer with the latest security updates nor do we know if your anti-virus definition files are fully up-to-date.

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