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There's more to computer upkeep than just cleaning your monitor and keyboard. Everyone knows you need to perform some sort of maintenance in order to ensure a computer runs smoothly. But many people either don't know what to do or end up putting it off until the last minute (or even later). Don't wait until you have a problem to perform maintenance on your system.



Here's our list of must-do maintenance items for those of you who put it off for a once-a-year spring cleaning. Doing this all at once isn't optimal, but it's better than not doing any at all! (Note: This article is for Windows PC owners. Mac users, check out our Mac hub, or some of our other Apple-centric guides and how-to articles.)

File maintenance
One of the most important tasks you can do to maintain your computer system's performance is file maintenance. The first step begins with a review of which programs you're using and which ones you're not. Programs you don't use still take up space on your hard drive; along with becoming fragmented, they can cause access times to slow down for everything on your system.

Windows' program management is very simple and straightforward. For Windows XP, go to the Start menu and right-click on the My Computer option on the right-hand side. Select Add / Remove Software from the available options. For Vista and Windows 7, simply select the Control Panel from the Start menu, and click on Programs from the window that opens up.

It may take a few moments to populate, but a list of all the programs that have been installed on your computer will appear in a new window. This list can be sorted by last time they've been used, by size, or alphabetically by name. If you have a pretty good idea of what you do and don't use, then sort by size and remove the largest ones you can. This will have the biggest impact on disk space and performance. Otherwise, use the "last time used" option to find out which programs you don't use all that often (or even not at all).

To remove a program from this list, just click on the Uninstall / Change button on the right side of the program's entry. A confirmation box will appear to make sure this is what you really want to do.

While you might think that removing a program's files by hand would be enough, it's important to go through the correct uninstall process. Doing so will also remove entries from your computer's registry (an area akin to a big index of every file that's on your computer and what each of them is supposed to do). Leftover entries in the registry can cause performance hiccups or even a complete system shutdown; using the uninstallation utility will help clean these up and keep leftover clutter to a minimum.

Take out the trash
Don't forget to empty the trash. Each time you delete something, it goes into the recycle bin or trash folder. You'll also want to remove temporary files from time to time, including internet downloads. Both tasks can be completed using one simple utility.

In the start menu under All Programs > Accessories > System, you'll find a program called Disk Cleanup. Run this program, and be sure to check off the trash and temporary folders. Eliminating these files will go a long way toward speeding up hard drive access and keeping your disk from being bogged down with unnecessary files and information.

Scanning for issues
After file cleanup is an excellent time to scan for viruses and other malware. There are many antivirus and anti-malware / spyware programs on the market. (Check out our solid antivirus and anti-malware recommendations.) In fact, your computer may have come with one preinstalled.

The main thing to do here is to ensure that you've got the most up-to-date files for your scanning program(s). Scanning for viruses and malware won't do much good if the scanner's data files are a year old! Most utilities make updating their detection databases a snap, with a Check for Updates or similar button or link right on the main screen.

Set aside chunk of time for your scanning program to run when you're not going to be using your computer. Depending on the size of your hard drive and how many files you have, it could be an overnight operation. While it's possible to run a scan in the background while working on your computer, trying to do both at the same time can slow things down significantly.

Also, make sure you run a complete system scan, not just the quick or "optimized" option. Remember, you're trying to do a year's worth of maintenance, so don't take shortcuts!

Disk maintenance
Once you've eliminated unused programs, cleaned up viruses or malware, and removed temporary files and trash, you're ready for the final step: defragmenting and organizing the information on your hard drive so it can be accessed more efficiently.

Your computer uses space as it becomes available, even if it means splitting up programs and files into dozens, even hundreds, of pieces. These pieces can end up spread out all over your hard drive. When this happens, accessing the information in these files takes longer than if the file were all together in one place.

The Disk Fragmentation utility analyzes your hard drive to determine if it needs to be defragmented (defragged). Go to the Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > System > Disk Fragmentation. If the computer indicates you don't need to defragment your system, then you're done — until next year, at least.

If you do need to defragment your hard drive, set it and forget it. The defragmentation process another long one, so you'll want to set aside another long block of time to let it run uninterrupted.  Again, you could do other things while this runs in the background, but since this process involves moving files that you still want to use, we highly recommend that you let it run by itself. Running this overnight or when you leave to go to work for the day is probably the easiest and most convenient option.

Be sure to check the box that scans your drives' surface areas while doing the defrag operation. This lets your system identify and catalog potentially faulty sectors on the disk so they won't be used again. Data stored on these sectors will be recovered and moved to a new location, if possible. (Note: The disk check will be performed the next time you reboot your computer; it may take a while to complete if your hard drive is very large and has a lot of data on it.)

Healthy and regular
Spring cleaning can be a great time to clean your computer as well as your home. Just don't put it off. A little time spent performing these tasks will pay off in a big way with system stability and performance. And if you're impressed with the results, you just might decide to make it a semi-annual event. Who knows?