Preventive maintenance is the key to obtaining years of trouble free service from a computer system. Cleaning connectors and contacts, defragmenting files, and cleaning your system are some of the few procedures computer users can do for preventive maintenance.
One of the most important procedures a computer user should accomplish is a regular and through cleaning of there system. Dust buildup on the internal components can lead to several problems. Dust acts as a thermal insulator, which prevents proper system cooling. Also, the dust may contain conductive elements that can cause partial short circuits in a system. Other elements in dust, dirt can accelerate corrosion of electrical contacts and cause improper connections.
Cleaning the connectors and contacts in a system promotes reliable connections between devices. On a motherboard, you will want to clean the slot connectors, power supply connectors, keyboard connector, and speaker connector. Pre-soaked wipes are the easiest to use. Just wipe them along the contacts to remove any accumulated dirt and leave protective coating behind.
Over time as files get saved and deleted from the computers hard drive, the files become fragmented. One of the best ways to protect both your hard drive and the data on it is to periodically defragment the files on the disk. This procedure will improve the speed at which files will be retrieved from the drive reducing longer waits every time a fragmented file is accessed.
A properly maintained computer pays for itself by reducing problem behavior, data loss, component failure, and ensuring a long life for the system. In several cases computer problems can be resolved by just performing preventive maintenance procedures.