2.5+Preventive+Maintenance+Techniques

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Sub Section 2 - 5 The Subject will be explained and presented below.

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**Physical Inspection** **Updates** **Scheduling Preventive Maintenance** **Use of appropriate repair tools and cleaning materials** It is good to thoroughly clean your computer out of any excess items and or dust that may have made its way into your computer. This will ease the tasks your computer does and prevents a lot of stress for both you and the computer. When dust builds up within the computer it makes your components overheat. When a component reaches a certain temperature it should do a safe shutdown and immediately cut off your computer before going to dangerous or harmful temperatures.
 * Check your computer for any visual physical damage.
 * Make sure that all components are tightly secured.
 * Be sure to make sure that there is no form of static or electrical interference between the device or system.
 * **Drivers**
 * Be sure to always check for driver updates, it allows you to keep your products and devices up to date and adds fixes to prior problems in previous versions.
 * **Firmware**
 * Updating your firmware is similar to updating your drivers, but its more software based. Updating your firmware is not always the best option, because with new updates brings new bugs and so forth.
 * **OS**
 * Operating System upgrades come in different forms for different Operating Systems:
 * **Windows** - Service Packs
 * **Macintosh** - OS X
 * **Linux** - Named differently per version. Each version comes with a unique name and number.
 * **Security**
 * I cannot begin to stress how important it is to keep up with your Virus/Spyware/Ad-ware/Email/etc. Protection software.
 * There are new viruses created to counter your protection **DAILY**. It is important that you keep your virus protection up to date in order to prevent any unwanted
 * **De-frag**
 * It is important to De-frag, only if you computer is still containing unaccounted for data that you are sure is not either program or OS Partition data.
 * De fragmentation allows you to clean up lost/ misplaced files not being associated with their proper program files.
 * Example: you download a game and when manually applying a patch, you accidentally place one of your files in the Microsoft word folder but didn't know. De fragmentation will remove or relocate those files that are out of order.
 * **Scan Disk**
 * Scan Disk is a Dos program that allows you to scan your Hard Disk Drive for any errors or bad sectors. This will allow you to fix HDD problems without having to replace the entire drive itself.
 * **Check Disk**
 * **Check Disk or CHKDSK scans and corrects bad sectors based on the parameters that you configure.**
 * Example: adding the parameter **/v ** **: to the command **Displays the name of each file in every directory as the disk is checked.
 * **Startup Programs**
 * It is very important that you manage and know all programs that boot with your computer regularly. If you do not, your computer could either have many unwanted or unknown programs booting at the very start. Not only is it dangerous to have programs booting that you are unaware of, but it may cause system instability upon boot.
 * I would suggest:
 * Running MSCONFIG via the run application and checking the start up section regularly.
 * Remove Rarely used or unused (used once and recycled).
 * Remove programs that are listed as Randomly generated letters.
 * Example: Program:ADFHGHGEUFEGMAGOVPAE | Manufacturer: Unknown | It is important that you watch these programs in both MSCONFIG and Task Manager because it may be spyware, a key logger, a virus.
 * **Compressed Air**
 * It is good to thoroughly clean through your computer for excess dust and other trash and things that may be causing problems. Be very careful when using compressed air,though, it may seem like air but it is actually a liquid that can cause a potential failure to equipment if sprayed improperly. Do not hold the can upside down, due to the fact that leakage may occur and may land within your components

**Power Devices** When using power sources, its important that you know //what// is plugged //where//, and //why//. The difference between where some items are plugged are sometimes your decision but it is important to know what you are plugging in to what. Wall outlets should have standard home items plugged into them such as lamps, certain printers and things that are specified otherwise. Power Strips should have computers and other things that can potentially be affected by a major power overload in order to protect you and your hardware. UPS's should be used in order to ensure that the specific devices are 1) plugged in to ensure complete protection of power outages and 2) you should always be sure that you are not using up higher than the power supported by the UPS. this will prevent damage from both your items and the UPS. **Ensuring proper environment** When you are handling any type of computer equipment, you will want to make sure that you are in an environment that does not create problems with your computer itself. When choosing areas, make sure you choose a roomy space, to give the computer room to breathe and allow airflow to circulate from the computer to the room then back to the computer. **REMEMBER** Hot air always needs to be out, so make sure your are is cool enough also. an ideal temperature depends on your computer sometimes. if your computer is a powerhouse meant for heavy workloads, your gonna wanna go on the safe side and be somewhere //at the very least// below 70 degrees. this will ensure that even if your work becomes very taxing on your computer it does not reach very high temperatures (meaning temps. above 85-90 degrees). most computers will shut off instantly if they reach a certain temperature, so be sure that you are monitoring it. A nifty tool to help you out, would be to get yourself a LED Temperature display or controller (useful, though not necessary). make sure your computer is on a hard, flat surface. This helps the airflow maneuver better throughout the room. adding a couple more heat suppressants to your computer never hurts either (Extra Case Fans, Water cooling, vents, dust filters, etc.). Main thing is, you invested in your computer so if it costs slightly more to ensure the longevity of its lifespan, i think it is completely worth it.
 * **Lint Free Cloth**
 * Your main use for a lint free cloth would be to clean off monitors and other peripherals that may be lightly wet or dusty. you can clean off a keyboard by wiping off the top and sliding it along the cracks to attempt to get some dust out, usually the cloth will not fit in between the keys, but its worth the try to get as much as possible as you can out. Make sure that if something spills you wile it as fast as possible and turn your computer upside down to prevent leakage to your motherboard.
 * **Computer Vacuums and Compressors**
 * You want to make sure that you use proper material when trying to extract dust from open computers. it is very important that static and computer components do not mix together. Vacuums are very useful for removing dust which as said, cause computer instability when they clump up in one spot. Vacuums will allow you to get the smaller items trapped within the computer that conventional items such as canned air cannot hit nor can you grab with your hands. it is important to watch for small components though, as they can be suck up if not properly secured, and screws can be removed and sucked up if not tightened or em placed.

**Backup Procedures** Backing up your information is a very nice practice to ensure that if something does go wrong, your covered. Nowadays there is cloud storage options in which you save your data onto the "cloud", which is basically like a hard drive that you can see but can be accessed via internet connection through your account. Cloud storage may seem like a good option, but lets just keep that as an alternative for now. Reason being is, if the network goes down at where your data is stored, they have a power outage, or something that renders their hardware currently inaccessible to outsiders and their hardware temporarily goes offline, unless they have a backup, you have just lost all of your data. Standard methods of storing data could be:
 * Using a External HDD
 * Using an external HDD is likely a good if not one of the better of the options. when transferring to a external HDD you should be sure that you are weary of the amount of space it holds. it is a good thumb of my suggestion, to only backup what you absolutely cannot retrieve by other means (job resumes, important documents, personal information, log in information).
 * Saving specific data to labeled flash drives (more expensive but more organized)
 * when storing with flash drives you are very limited to space but this may be a good thing in one aspect. in a case you could specifically label flash dives in which you will assign data to the flash drives as it seems fit. these categories will make it easier when putting files back onto your computer if a disaster does occur, because it allows you to put data on your computer when you need it. For example, your computer is now freshly installed and you need to play some games. you look for your games flash drive put it in and transfer. The thing is, this option is likely not a viable option considering this is almost the same thing as creating categorized folders on a blank hard drive and transferring what you need.
 * Copy data over to another internal hard drive as primary is used
 * Transferring data to another internal hard drive allows for quicker movement between transfers as you do not have to remove it. downside to this is that if something happens to your entire computer and it causes problems to all your components, not likely but possible, you will be out of both Hard Drives.
 * Using cloud storage
 * This option has its positives, considering no matter what your data will be accessed from anywhere you just need the internet bandwidth to send it and get it back, but as i said earlier this option can lead to unseen problems in which you would lose all of your data without any way to prevent it.

Created by Brandon Harris