Spring Cleaning!

Finally! The sun has returned (to most parts of the northern hemisphere at least)! The birds and bees are out and about, blossom is on the trees...yes it's Spring!

Not being much of a domestic goddess I don't make a big thing of Spring Cleaning around the house, but over the past few days I have turned my attention to my computer. It is, after all the single most important work tool I have and without it I'd be utterly lost, so it deserves a bit of care and attention.

So I snatched a few hours between jobs earlier this week to tackle some very basic, but very important, maintenance tasks.

IT problems can cause untold stress and frustration

Keep it clean on the outside...

Obviously for hygiene reasons, and to preserve your eyesight, you need to keep your monitor screen(s) clean. There are many different products available for this purpose, although I have to say I find a very slightly (and I mean slightly) damp, lint free screen cloth does the job just as well as any sprays and potions.

The same goes for keyboard, mouse and the outside of the computer in general. Crumbs, dust and assorted foreign bodies can cause endless irritation just when you're up against a tight deadline, so better to clean them regularly to avoid unnecessary stress.

Another important part of computer maintenance is keeping fans and filters clean. The hot summer months (here, at least!) put extra strain on these vital elements, and if it's never happened to you, you can't begin to imagine the pain of having your computer shut down unexpectedly due to overheating. If you have an air compressor, it's just the job for blasting furballs and other detritus from fans (and keyboards for that matter) - if not I'm told a hair dryer on cool/cold setting is a good alternative.

While we're on the subject of overheating, laptops are particularly susceptible to this issue as we often forget that they need good air circulation under their bottoms in order to keep cool. A few years ago I invested in a cooling pad with built in fans for extra ventilation. There are loads on the market; most are not particularly expensive but can help avoid no end of strife and suffering in the long run.

...and tidy on the inside...

 I was speaking to someone the other day (who ought to know better, so will remain nameless) who was complaining that she didn't know how to make a backup. Nowadays there's simply no excuse for losing vital data. There are endless options for backing up your files, emails, programmes, configuration etc. The emergence of cloud storage has made it even easier to recover files, access them from other devices and locations, and avoid clogging up your hard drive. I use a combination of Dropbox and JustCloud although I don't keep absolutely everthing out there in the ether - I still have my trusty external hard drive for all my old work folders, photos and videos, as well as a daily backup and complete copy of my hard drive. All of this is organised for me by a brilliant - and free - little programme called Karen's Replicator, so I don't even have to remember to press a button!

Despite this plethora of external copies and storage space...it's still important to have a good clear out of your internal hard drive(s) from time to time. Temporary files, old applications, long-forgotten downloads, and your full-to-the-brim recycle bin etc all take up space and ultimately affect how your computer performs. I like to run a defrag and a registry cleaner too, to keep everything running smoothly.

...Happy Computer = Happy you!

Those of us who depend on our computers for work know what an utter nightmare it is when it fails to respond, or worse still, dies. I have shed real tears in the past over sudden shut downs, broken hard drives and lost data... our computers work just as hard as we do and they too need a bit of pampering. So take half an hour to give it a Spring Clean and keep yours in tip top shape - it's worth it in the long run!