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Preventive maintenance for your V2 Premier computer
The average personal computer user doesn't think much about problems
that may occur with a computer until those problems actually happen. Once a
failure occurs, repairs can be quite costly and time-consuming. However, there
are simple preventive measures that a user can take to decrease the possibility
of running into computer problems and also to lessen any damage that may occur
despite best efforts to avoid failures.
Computer malfunctions occur for a variety of reasons, sometimes
because of human error and sometimes because of environment factors, or some
combination of both. These factors can include excessive buildups of dust, the
presence of excessive heat or magnetism; computer viruses picked up from the
Internet or from storage media shared between computers; static electrical
shocks or power surges; carelessness, such as spilling liquids into a computer
or bumping or dropping the hard drive casing; or software that has not been
configured correctly.
The following tips will help make PC failure less likely:
- Do not place a personal computer directly near a heating or cooling source,
such as heating vents or air conditioners. Both excessive heat and cold can
damage a PC. This includes putting the PC in the path of direct sunlight.
We recommend that PCs be placed in a humidity-controlled environment, but
again the PC should not be positioned so that an air conditioner is blowing
cool air directly onto it. In order to keep the PC's air vents unobstructed,
do not place your computer in a tight enclosure. Also, do not smoke around a
PC. Tar contained in cigarette smoke builds up on your cooling fans and prevents
them from operating in an optimal manner.
- Do not connect power sources directly into wall outlets. Connect your
computer's power cord to some form of surge protector. Surge protectors help
prevent electrical surges from destroying delicate electrical components.
- Buildup of dust can seriously degrade a PC's ability to cool itself
and dust can enter your computer through drive openings and air vents in the
tower case. An efficient way to clean dust from the inside of a computer is
with compressed air. Do not blow air directly into a floppy disk drive as
this can cause dust to lodge in the drive and cause it to malfunction. About
once a year, users who are not comfortable working inside a computer case
should take the unit to a professional for cleaning, because more harm than
good can be done to a computer if you do not know how to safely work with
internal electrical components.
- Install anti-spyware software to prevent spyware from degrading system
performance, especially but not limited to decreasing the speed of your
internet connection. There are several free applications which can be
downloaded from the internet that will afford you protection from spyware.
Generally speaking, spyware is defined as any technology that gathers
information about a computer user without their consent or knowledge. On
the Internet, spyware is software that is put in someone's computer to
covertly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers
or other interested parties. Spyware can enter a computer in the same way
as a software virus or as the result of installing certain kinds of
programs.
- Consider the purchase of an extended warranty for your computer
system. Things can and do go wrong on occasion and an extended warranty
can provide you peace of mind in just such an event.
Getting into the habit of maintaining the health and integrity of your
V2Premier computer system will save you time and aggravation over the long run.
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