Technology moves fast, new computers are built everyday. Faster, bigger harddrives, better displays and so on.
You might be asking yourself why should I learn on how to extend my computer’s life. It will become obsolete in 2 or 3 years. I will get another one.
Well I have an old Dell Vostro desktop. Have heard it for years. Guess what, I use it for running my crazy tests on it. I even send my little brothers to abuse it so they don’t disturb me on my new XPS.
Fact it you can never run out of ways to use a functional computer even if its old.
Heck you can even donate it or sell its parts.
Before we get started let me make something clear. There is no x number of years a computer will last. How long a computer will last depends on the individual components that its made up of. They all have different number of years they will start failing at. But there are measures you can take to increase their lifespan.
So here is how you can extend the lifespan of the computer
First dont drop it!
Unless of course you are doing a rugged test.
Yes I know, who would intentional drop a computer. I have seen laptops fly before. Had a friend who had a laptop on her lap and suddenly got too excited that she jumped from the couch sending the laptop flying across the room. Got a couple of parts to experiment with from that incident.
Laptops have these rubber nubs on the bottom that makes them stick to hard surfaces like the table. This works best if you place it flat. Make sure you put it directly on the table and remove stuff beyond it. This will ensure that it doesn’t slide from nudge buy mistake
You say its a laptop it doesn’t belong on the table but on the lap. In that case be aware its in your laps before you it goes skidding across the flow.
For desktop computers place them preferable on the ground or stable platform though desktop computers are less likely to fall. But if they do fall they might take out your toes in revenge.
Keep your PC away from direct sun.
Computers do not need to get a tan, well at least in my experience. Heat and computers are not good friends. If you are a gamer you may have noticed a performance decrease as the computer heats. Or worse the system shuts down.
Direct sun can cause the components to not function properly in the long run. Make sure you consider the windows and door if you are going to have your computer in the same position for long periods of time especially desktop computers.
The heat also affect laptop batteries. Read how to increase the battery life and battery wear.
Remove Dust and stuff
If you open old computers you might get the shock of your life from things you find in there. I once open a friend’s old desktop to find a tiny dead lizard. Poor thing.
The air vents are usually the victims or the culprits depending on how you look at it. If a lot of dust get sucked it you computer. The can really shorten the lifespan of the computer. For instance, dust can build up on and around the the fan blades causing it to malfunction and then the computer starts heating up. This can get your motherboard fried. Bits of paper, cloth etc stuck on your computer interferes with the air circulation system causing the system to turn itself on and off because of heating.
Wait, don’t go and grab the vacuum or blower to suck and blow the the dust out of the computer. This can damage the computer further for example you can blow the fans and break them. Instead get a can of compressed air to blow your computer with.
Turn your computer of proper
Don’t press the power button until the computer switches off. Yes you have done it before when those windows updates where taking 10 years to finish installing and nothing bad happened. You turned on the computer the next day everything was fine. Oh so you thought. I have done it before.
Please do not do it. Unless your computer wont boot and you trying to remove flea power.
If you suddenly shut down your computer when the operating system or programs are writing to the hard drive you create bad sectors. Eventually your hard drive will one day tell you it has had enough and quit.
You might also be interrupting components drivers causing them to be corrupt, which leads to blue screens of death, system hangs and unnecessary headaches for you
Run your the tool chkdsk regularly to fix errors.
Prevent power surges and sudden power cuts
If you have backup power supply. Install it. It will save you data and in the above scenarios in case of power cuts.
Power surges might fry your power supply or even worse the motherboard. Get a power surge protector, they are relatively not that expensive. Check the ones on this link. Also buy backup power supply though these can be a bit pricey.
Keep Bad guys from your computers
Do not let hackers turn your computer into a Zombie. Making sure you have malware protection and also add a firewall. Viruses can strain your system resources and interfere with the normal functioning of the computer. Worse off your computer might get used for malicious activities online.
Lock it down.
Defragment your hard drive
If you are using windows 8 and 10 you don’t need to worry about this windows does this automatically for you you weekly. If you are using older version you may need to defragment your computer manually.
To defragment:
1. Right click on my computer
2. Properties
3. Select defragmentation tab
4. Defragment
This makes you computer access files fast and reduces the amount of spins from your hard when opening files and programs. This will ensure your hard drive lifespan increases to. If you have an ssd no worries you don’t have the spinning hard drive issues.
Turn your computer off
If you are traveling or you are not going to use your computer in a long turn it off. Computers maybe be able to work all year round without being turned off but turning them off once in a while may give you extra months in lifespan.
So unless you have one of the rugged computers keep these tips in mind then your computer’s lifespan will increase.
Please comment and add on the ones i missed.