April 23, 2018 | Category: Articles

Computers tend to treat you the way you treat them. A little bit of love goes a long way toward a happy, healthy relationship. If you want your computer to behave when you need it most, here are two things you should do on a frequent basis.

Give Your Computer a Fresh Start!

Have you ever heaped disdain on someone who suggested that you reboot your computer to fix a problem? As inconvenient as it may be, it’s often a very effective fix. Of course, rebooting is less than ideal when you’re stuck on a screen with an unsaved copy of your doctoral thesis. To take the sting out of restarts, pick a time to restart before you start having problems. Weekly reboots are effective because they’re easy to remember. For example, make a habit of rebooting every Friday night. “Have a good weekend! *reboot*”

Have you wondered why restarting is such an effective way of fixing problems? Think about a woodshop where tools are used every day to shape wood into new creations. Day after day, wood is sawed, planed, chiseled, and glued to create chairs, tables, desks, and more. By the end of the week, sawdust and shavings are piled on the floor and throughout the shop; further work will be difficult until the debris is removed and the shop is vacuumed and swept. Cleanup could be delayed, but a longer delay means less productivity. It could even lead to an accident or injury.

Your computer works like the woodshop. As you open and close problems, debris from the programs builds up. You may not see it, but under all the things you create on your computer are little bits of leftover code that litter your system. Fortunately, cleaning up your computer is easier than tidying the woodshop. A simple reboot will give your computer a fresh start—and a fresh computer will make you more productive.

Keep It Patched

Nobody’s perfect — including your computer.

Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, (and so on and so on) … all make continual improvements to their products. And, fortunately, they usually make the update process automatic. These updates include fixes for broken products, security enhancements, and new features. Keeping your computer up-to-date will ensure that it runs at its best and is secure against attacks–especially when paired with appropriate antivirus tools.

Even though the newest systems automate much of the update process, you should be diligent and ensure that updates are being installed. You may need to do some research to identify the tools for your particular system, but here are a few examples to get you started.

  • Microsoft Windows 10: Click Start and type “Check for updates”
  • Microsoft Windows 7: Click Start and type “Windows Update”
  • MacOS: Go to the App Store and click Updates
  • Dell: Run CommandUpdate
  • Lenovo: Look for ThinkVantage System Update (or type “tvsu” on the Start Menu)

If you don’t see these tools or if you have a different type of machine, go to the website for the manufacturer of your computer and check the Support section. There is normally a section for downloads, including the tools mentioned above.

Now, think back to several minutes ago. Do you remember that part about rebooting your computer? Once installed, many patches won’t take effect until your computer is rebooted. What’s more, some patches cannot be installed until a preceding patch has been successfully installed. These dependencies can cause your computer to become increasingly out-of-date. And out-of-date computers just aren’t cool.

Conclusion

Proper care of your computer pays dividends. It ensures that your computer will do what you want it to do, when you want it to do it. A few minutes of preventative maintenance now may save hours of downtime later.

If you have an office full of computers to manage, updating one by one may not be a good solution for you. E2C can help manage your computers to keep them up to date. We can even schedule reboots and other maintenance tasks so that you can focus on doing what you do best. To order some E2C TLC for your computers, contact us using the form below!