If you are working from home, and most of that work takes place on a computer, then you really should ensure that you are looking after it. Just like any other machine, it needs time and attention to keep it running at full capacity. There are a few things that you can do each week that will keep your computer or laptop in tiptop condition for much longer.

Storage

If you are the type of person who downloads and saves a lot of large files, or you save everything to your computer you are going to find that in a short time your computer is going to run slower. It has less available memory to use to run other programmes.

One of the quickest ways to solve this is to move your workload to cloud storage and also use a HDD. It is better to have a backup of everything, so if you have issues with accessing your cloud, you have the HDD to see your through.

Go through the files and make sure that they are correctly labels before you move anything too. There is nothing worse than swapping everything over and not being able to find anything for ages after.

Malware & Viruses

Of course, you already have malware and virus checking software – but how often are you letting that program run? You should be letting both of them run at least once a week. When you are working with multiple files, sending and receiving all the time – plus additional downloads in between you can never be too careful. You’d need to consider ransomware recovery too, as there has been a rise in attacks in the last few years.

If you aren’t expecting a large file, or you receive something you aren’t sure of – don’t open it until someone can confirm that it was sent by them.

Updates

‘Remind me tomorrow’. ‘Remind me next week’. And suddenly you haven’t updated your software for 6 months or so. Upgrading your software is what keeps it safe from a range of viruses malware and will generally run better than it does currently. There are improvements in the updates, that will keep the rest of your system working in harmony – which is going to make it run smoother. And who doesn’t want that?

Trash

If you are forever putting files in the trash, then make sure that your trash is set to empty once a week. If you don’t have the option for that to happen on your system, then set a reminder in your phone to make sure that you do it.

Cleaning Outside

If you have a computer that requires a tower of components to work, then they will over time get clogged with dust and grime. You can purchase a can, or two of compressed air with that will blast all of the dust out of the hard to reach places without damaging your system. You can also pick up some keyboard goop. This clever slime textured product can be rolled over your keyboard and will remove dust, crumbs and other small things that are sitting between the keys. It can be used a few times before you need to throw it away.

If your computer were to pack up tomorrow, due to not taking proper care of it, many people would lose their livelihoods too. So, don’t take a risk with your tech – keep it clean and optimized.