Computer Maintenance Tips and Checklist for Beginners

Maintaining a PC nowadays is no less than maintaining a car. It requires regular component upgrades as many accessories are available and might malfunction if not used properly.

It makes a lot of sense to identify your computer as a regular machine needing maintenance, but several users still consider it a one-time investment. That is because the idea of taking care of a PC has never been properly introduced. 

When a system is not correctly optimized, it tends to slow down. No wonder one experiences a massive downfall in performance. If you are also going through a similar situation, do not worry; it is time to make things right. 

In this post, look at a few computer maintenance tips that might help you bring your PC back to life. We have also included a checklist that will assist you in keeping track of things that you must do to maintain a healthy performance on your PC. 

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Maintenance Tips for PC: 5 Things You MUST Do!

One can do multiple things to keep the PC running smoothly. Some of the tips that we share below may appear to be basic. However, their impact on your PC’s performance can be massive. Hence, implement these maintenance tips more often.

Tip #1 – Keep Your PC Updated

The first and one of the most important things to ensure while using a PC is to keep it updated. Updating your PC regularly helps stay parallel to the growth of features and technology. The latest updates have all the upgrades that your PC might require. Not to mention, using the latest software with your components keeps them brushed and new.

Sure, you might think of upgrading the software as hampering a currently stable system. However, to ensure proper use of your hardware, you need to identify its threshold. And regular updates help you find just that. 

The ideal way to update your software is to look for available upgrades every week. Thankfully Windows allows you to automate this process. Here’s how you can do it – 

Step 1 – Press Windows + I to open System Settings
Step 2 – From the settings, you can navigate to Windows Update through the left panel.

Step 3 – Click on Check for Updates to find the updates instantly in the Updates section.

Step 4 – In the available options, you have an option that says “Get the Latest Updates…”, toggle it ON.

This way, you will always receive the latest updates on your PC. This can help you a lot with performance issues that you may be facing with the older versions. Not to mention, all the applications are regularly upgraded to support the latest versions, so you are also covered that way. 

Read Also: 5 New Creative Things You Can Do With Your Old PC

Tip #2 – Optimize Your RAM Usage for Better Performance

Your PC’s memory is a crucial component, especially when we talk about performance. You can never ignore that having an extra chunk of RAM available always boosts performance. 

One of the common mistakes that users make while using a PC is they do not consider RAM optimization. Some do not even consider maintaining a healthy free RAM ratio while using the PC. This is because most users do not know how to optimize their RAM usage. 

Here are some things that you must keep in mind – 

1. To maintain your RAM, you must ensure that only the apps you use run in the background.
2. The more accessible your memory is while booting up, the better your boot time.
3. Instead of restarting your computer when it lags, try freeing up the memory from your system.

All three of these things can be maintained by a single utility tool on Windows, i.e., the Task Manager. Here’s how – 

Step 1 – Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up the Task Manager window on your desktop.

Step 2 – You may find a Memory tab in the Task Manager. Click on it to sort the running applications based on their memory consumption.
Step 3 – Select the application you believe is running in the background or not used by you.
Step 4 – Click on End task from the above bar. You may feel an instant smoothness in the performance of your PC.
Step 5 – Now that you have cleared RAM while using, you can use the left menu to navigate towards startup applications.
Step 6 – Remove all the applications from the startup list, as these slow down the boot process.

Step 7 – Find the status of the listed applications and disable them. 

This will help boost the boot time, making it faster when you start your PC next time. Maintaining your PC memory can help you achieve wonders with performance.

Tip #3 – Keep Your Storage Clean

The discussion might remain incomplete if we talk about memory and do not discuss storage. You already know the basics about using an SSD over an HDD and removing unnecessary files. However, what a lot of users miss out on is maintaining the usage of the drive. Irrespective of your type of drive, you must clean it regularly to get the best performance. 

Fortunately, Windows offers a disk clean-up tool that can be useful for cleaning the storage up. 

Here’s how you can use it – 

Step 1 – Look up Disk Cleanup in the Start menu search.

Step 2 – Open the application, and you may find a small Window with a drop-down section to choose the drive partition for cleanup.
Step 3 – Select the drive you want to clean. Choose a drive and click OK to begin.

Step 4 – The cleanup will calculate what type of files can be removed from the drive to free up space. Click OK, and a prompt will appear asking you whether you want to delete these files permanently or not.
Step 5 – Click on Delete Files to get over with the optimization. 

Perform the same steps for other partitions as well. This will allow you to free up space when needed. 

Tip #4 – Uninstall Unused Applications Regularly

There are applications that we often install for single use. Open a file type once or convert something into a different format. While we do not think it through, many such applications stay on the system longer than they were used. Removing such applications can be a great way of optimizing the PC’s performance.

Here’s how to remove such applications – 

Step 1 – Press Win+R to open the Run search utility.
Step 2 – Use the Command Control Appwiz.cpl to bring up the installed application management utility in the control panel.

Step 3 – In the opened window, click the Installed On tab from the top bar to sort the list based on the application’s installation. Click on it twice to sort the list from old to new format. This way, you will be able to identify the old applications that are not being used now.

If you find any application you might want to remove from the list, double-click it to initiate the uninstall. You can also select it and click on uninstall to do the process. Doing this often will also help you gain more storage space and lighten the overall performance of your PC.

Tip #5 – Keep the Drivers Updated

Last but certainly not least, keep the drivers on your PC updated. Every component you use with the system has a dedicated driver, be it a network adapter or a dedicated printer. To ensure that there are no unexpected errors in the system, you must ensure that these drivers stay up to date. 

Using the Device Manager, you can update all the drivers on your PC. Here’s how – 

Step 1 – Go to the start menu and look for Device Manager. Open the result that matches it.

Step 2 – In the Device Manager window, you have a list of devices and components connected to your PC.
Step 3 – Go to each individually and right-click on them to find the update driver option.

Step 4 – Repeat the step for all the components listed.

The process is lengthy, considering every update is installed manually on the PC. However, since it is a crucial step to maintain your PC, you must use the same. 

Pro Tip – Use a Tool that Does It All for You!

Looking at all the tips above, you might have an idea that it is not an easy task to maintain and optimize your PC. Performing all these steps takes a lot of PC knowledge and time. This may become an issue for a beginner as going through all the steps can be tough.

To help you simplify things, we recommend you use Advanced System Optimizer. An all-in-one PC optimization tool that allows you to perform all the maintenance your PC will ever need from a single application. 

The tool has multiple modules to help you fix everything wrong with your PC. The best part is the centralized scan that helps you eliminate all the problems your PC may face in a matter of minutes. 

Here’s how the tool works – 

Step 1 – Download the tool from the link below 

Step 2 – From the tool’s home screen, click Start Smart PC Care to initiate the scan.

Step 3 – The scan now searches your PC for various anomalies. These include damaged registries, disk issues, missing driver updates, memory issues, etc.

Step 4 – Let the scan run. It may take a few minutes, considering it goes through your entire PC to fetch the information.

Step 5 – Once the scan is over, you can fix all the errors found in a single click. Simply click on Optimize, and the tool does the rest on its own. 

That is how all the issues can be resolved. Not only this scan, but the tool also offers dedicated modules to help you optimize the system better. You can refer to this detailed review of Advanced System Optimizer to understand all the tool’s features.

Quick Checklist to Optimize Your PC

Now that you know how you can optimize your PC, here’s a quick checklist to help you keep track of regular operations you must carry out to keep your PC at peak performance – 

• Remove all the startup apps to boost boot speed.
• Keep removing applications that you do not use.
• Clean your hard drive regularly to optimize storage
• Update your PC timely to gain newer features.
• Keep the drivers of your PC updated.
• Use Advanced System Optimizer’s Smart PC Scan regularly.
• Always kill background applications that may be taking up memory unnecessarily.
• Never skip an opportunity to upgrade your hardware (if possible).

Whenever you struggle with PC performance, simply open this checklist and try to tick them all. Bookmark this page immediately so you do not waste time finding it again. 

Let us know in the comments if you have any other suggestions or practices that help you keep your system up and running. Thanks for reading. Good luck!

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Busted! 3 Common Misconceptions About PC Optimization