PC health check

Just as your car needs a regular service and your body needs regular health checks, a PC needs regular examination to ensure it is running correctly and efficiently. Computers are prone to all sorts of problems that can not only reduce their efficiency, but also lead to data loss, regular errors and slow everything down, which is why it is important to get a professional to give your computer a regular once over.

Clogged up resources - Just as a car can slowly lose power over time, as spark plugs become clogged and filters blocked, computers can slow down too. When memory becomes cluttered and unnecessary applications take up system resources, a PC loses performance. A regular PC health check can make a big difference in the performance of a computer. By reordering your hard drive (defragging), clearing temporary files from system caches, and ensuring unnecessary applications are not hogging your memory, a computer technician can dramatically improve your machine’s performance. A PC health check will also identify if your machine is running low on resources, as you may be running low on storage space or need extra memory to cope with the amount of programs you work with.

Viruses and spyware - Computers can become riddled with viruses, malware and spyware and often the user is unaware of the problem. Viruses can cause all sorts of failures and errors, while spyware could be passing on your personal details without you realising it

Some malicious software operates in the background and allows your computer to be hijacked to perform malicious tasks, such as distributing viruses or accessing other computer networks to disrupt their service. These “botnets” often operate unbeknown to the computer user, and take up resources. A regular PC health check by a qualified technician will clean your machine of any malicious software, ensuring your data is not being compromised.

Updates - Programs, operating systems and antivirus software all needs to be regularly updated. Running software that is out of date can cause security risks, make a machine less efficient and can mean you are not taking advantage of the latest features of your programs. Furthermore, all hardware devices require software drivers to function and these are regularly updated too. By updating all your software, a computer technician can dramatically improve the performance of your programs and hardware and make them run more efficiently.

Physical check - Computers can suffer from physical problems as well as virtual ones. It is common for dust to build up within a PC enclosure, which can clog up filters and fans, reducing efficiency and making your machine run too hot. It is also common for memory or wiring to become unseated, or for graphic or sound cards to become dislodged. A regular PC health check will ensure your machine is free from dust and that everything is as it should be inside the PC enclosure.

A regular PC health check can make a big difference in the efficiency of a computer, and not only ensure it is running at its optimum performance, but also extend the life of your hardware, so that it can operate problem free for years to come.