by Susan Easter
Whether you have been using a computer for years, or you are just getting your first computer, there are some important things that must be done regularly to keep it in excellent working order. Routine Maintenance. This column will deal with the hardware aspect of basic maintenance.
Routine maintenance is something that generally isn’t talked about much, and even in the best of environments might not be done often enough. If done regularly, it will keep your machine from developing some of those quirky, random problems that seem to come and go at will.
Loose boards, cables with one broken wire that doesn’t always connect, or dust balls causing a cross connection between two different components can cause you to lose your mind while looking for the “obvious” source of a problem. These types of things te nd to happen right after you install new software, hardware, or just change something minor, leading you to rightfully assume that it has something to do with what you just did.
There are several things I consider to be “must haves” for keeping my computer clean and running well. The first is canned air. The canned air that is sold for dusting out your fine electronics, generally with some sort of static elimination, is perfect for using in the computer. It usually will come with a thin straw-like nozzle to get into the tiniest of spaces. This is good for opening up the back of the computer and blasting out the dust. It is also good to use the nozzle end to give your keyboard a good dusting. All those key openings are really good traps for dust and crumbs.
The next items I consider essential are the wipes that clean off your monitor screen. Made especially for using on monitors and TV screens, they will clean the glass without scratching, and have an anti-static ingredient as well. Over a period of weeks, you can accumulate a lot of grime on the screen.
Another tool to keep near the computer is a screw driver. Generally, most screws used in a computer are going to be phillips-head screws. A medium sized screwdriver will do the job on most screws in a system. There are times that you may need to use a fl at-head screwdriver, and when you do it will be smaller than the phillips-head. If there is a need to do any work inside the computer, or to do a little interior dusting, these are essential to getting inside.
There are several things that can be bought at a computer store that will help you to keep your computer in working order. One is a disk drive cleaner. If you use floppy diskettes for sharing of files, or storing important data, the heads of the disk dri ve(s) will get a little dirty over time. Blasting out the dust will be helpful, but like a tape deck or VCR, you will have heads that need polishing every now and then.
There are kits at computer stores that have everything you need to clean a disk drive. There are also kits for your CD-ROM and tape backup drives. Your mouse is another item that needs regular checking and cleaning. Kits are available to help keep the ba ll rolling and the points of contact clean.
Tape drives are probably the most important of all the drives that need regular cleaning. If you do any amount of work that you consider important enough to store, then of all the cleaning kits, this is the one to have. Tapes are notorious for going bad over time, stretching with constant use, and for having data that doesn’t get copied correctly because of dirty heads. If your data is important, you must keep the heads cleaned very regularly.
CDs can get a bit grimy over time as well. If you have CDs that you use on a regular basis, there are CD cleaning kits that will clean the fingerprints and dust off, and have an anti-static ingredient as well. This will enable the CD laser to read the d ata correctly every time.
As you would do with your personal vehicle, there are routine checks for your computer to keep from having something go wrong at exactly the most inopportune time. Checking your wiring and connectors will help to ensure that your system stays up and runn ing properly.
When you have had a computer for longer than a year, you will be facing the normal deterioration of items like the ribbon cables that connect your hard drive(s), floppy drive(s) and CD drives to their power sources. These cables tend to go bad after a fe w years of use, and from being inside a very warm, and dry, cabinet. Wires that get a little brittle can break easily, but still give you a fairly good connection most of the time, fooling you with a random “symptom” that doesn’t reproduce every time.
Checking the connections of things like speakers, keyboards, monitors, printers, and others, will give you a good idea of the condition of the wiring. If you see that one of these connectors is in bad shape, replace it. Regular checking will ensure that the problems of wiring getting a bit worn, won’t affect your machine negatively. Getting into the habit of doing this every month will avoid a nasty surprise later.
Last of all, I keep a very excellent surge suppressor between my wall plug and my computer equipment. I have one with eight plugs and I keep all my equipment plugged into it at all times.
This is probably one of the most important things you can buy to keep your computer healthy. Spending the kind of money it takes to have a complete system makes no sense, if you don’t spend as much as you can afford to protect it from electric spikes and surges.
Surge suppressors come in all sizes and types. One factor to keep in mind is the number of the Joules rating.
The higher the Joules rating, the better the protection. You are putting a surge suppressor in between the wall and your equipment to prevent large spikes or surges of electricity, whether from lightening hitting a pole down the street or the electric co mpany having a slight surge going through the lines.
There are different types of suppressors on the market, but if you look for one that offers insurance protection, lightning protection, and has a high Joules rating, you should be able to keep your computer from ever getting zapped.
Susan Easter, a HAL-PC member currently on assignment in Ohio, can be contacted at seaster@raex.com.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.