Computer maintenance

[S.T.A.R.S.]

What are some good habits/ general good practices to maintain a computer, ie to keep it running smoothly. :good:

Secondly, should you turn your computer off each night or "close the screen", which is better for the computer, I am not too bothered about electricity costs or the hassle of having to reboot the computer

If you are concerned about thunderstorm and other types of bad weather such as lightning which can cause damage to the equipment,but you don't want to turn off the computer then use a good UPS device with a good overvoltage protection (surge protection) and good battery life (up to at least 5 minutes).

 

[Punk]

Depending on what you read, some people claim to not let it get below a certain percentage, some say run it down and not continuously plug and unplug it, others say you should keep it charged as much as possible. Lots of this stems from different battery technologies, the older batteries kept a memory, however newer ones are a lot more robust to various charging methods. I don't have the correct answer for certainty though.

Thanks! Yeah that's pretty much what I've read so far online, not really one answer but a bunch of different solutions...

 

[mrapino]

Surprised no one jumped on this. Ditch it. Seriously. It's not that great and will bog down your system. Uninstall it and use Avast instead; much lighter resource-wise, better results, and free. Amazing program.

For virus, avast has been mentioned, but PC Mag highly recommends Bitdefender Free, AVG Free as a very close second.

Does anyone have thoughts about Bitdefender and AVG, as well as which one is more efficient and effective?

 

[voyagerfan99]

AVG is bloaty and always has been.

 

[aldan]

yeah i would choose bitdefender over avg anytime.i use avast and have for years.if i remember correctly bitdefender is targeted towards your average user in that it is easier to setup and use.ive just tried another program after using ccleaner forever.its called privaser.so far it hasnt screwed anything up but i dont worry about that too much as i backup my registry regularly with registry backup from tweaking.com.

 

[Okedokey]

If you are concerned about thunderstorm and other types of bad weather such as lightning which can cause damage to the equipment,but you don't want to turn off the computer then use a good UPS device with a good overvoltage protection (surge protection) and good battery life (up to at least 5 minutes).

A UPS or a surge protector is not sufficient to protect against lighting.