The Art of Computer Maintenance

Poorly maintained computers can become a costly mistake.

Maintaining business computers is a team effort. The industry average for a computer lifetime is 3-5 years, however with proper maintenance, a business owner can double the life expectancy of their hardware. This article highlights what a managed service, like Bit Perfection, can do to help maintain your computers and list what you can do to help increase the lifespan of your workstations.

6 things you should include in your computer maintenance program

1. Keep your computers clean.

Every month or so, vacuum the back of your computer and turn your keyboard over and knock out the crumbs and dust. This is also a good time to check to make sure your fans are free of anything that would decrease airflow.

2. Update your computer software and operating systems.

Poor performance oftentimes stems from computers running old versions of software or operating systems. You can set your computers to auto-update or notify you went updates are available. Make it a habit to update in a timely manner. In some instances, if you skip one or two updates, you can run into serious issues when trying to update with current versions.

3. Have a Security Policy.

So many times, employees accidentally download and install programs that are trojan horse programs for malware. You can establish policies on internet usage to help mitigate employees inadvertently picking up viruses and other nasty programs.

4. Backup your computers and data.

Even individual workstations and files should be backed up to a network or the cloud. It’s a common occurrence to have a computer crash only for the employer to realize that critical data was on the computer hard-drive and is now lost. With routine backups, you only risk losing a portion of data — if not any at all.

5. Defragment your hard drives.

Defragmentmenting your hard drive is an often overlooked computer maintenance task. If you are asking “What’s defragmenting” then you definitely need to do this! Defragmenting is how a computer tidies up the hard-drive space. It organizes the information stored so it’s accessed efficiently. Over time, data is written over and/or moved around. This increases the time it takes to access the information, creating slow computers.

6. Delete unused applications and files.

Every 3 months or so, auditing your computer applications and removing unused ones frees up more space for better processing. This is also a good time to clean up any old or obsolete files, freeing up more hard-drive space.

6 ways Bit Perfection can help with computer maintenance

1. Update your operating systems and software for you.

Bit Perfection can set up routine application and operating system updates. We will notify you when updates are needed and coordinate the updates with minimal disruption to your business.

2. Install auto backup protocols on your computers and network.

Bit Perfection configures your business workstations to automated backups-taking the responsibility off of your employees and protecting their files.

3. Install firewall rules and protections.

Bit Perfection can analyze and recommend and install network security measures to protect your company’s digital assets. We continuously monitor industry trends and keeping your data safe.

4. Assess your computers and create an upgrade schedule.

Bit Perfection can take the guesswork out of computer maintenance by keeping an inventory of your hardware and overseeing the replacement and update schedule.

5. Upgrade your existing computers.

Sometimes the easiest way to increase the lifespan of a computer is to update the hard drives or increase the RAM (memory). Bit Perfection can come to your business to make the requested updates or we can pick up your workstations and perform the updates in our facility.

6. Audit and update necessary drivers and network settings.

Sometimes the simplest fix can resolve the biggest headache. Let Bit Perfection ensure your network and devices are operating with the updated drivers and settings.

Let Bit Perfection help you get the most out of your technology. We take the headache out of the maintenance and keep your company’s computing efficient and productive.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help make it easier for you to focus on what’s important — your business.