General maintenance

Maintenance is essential when running a computer system. Its aim is to prevent arising problems and save time when diagnosing/fixing faults. It can also extend the life span of the computer. Different parts of the computer required being cleaned and maintainted at different times.
Daily things that should be done are:

• Virus scan of memory and hard disk.
• Take backup of changed data files.

Things that should be done on a weekly basis are:

• Clean mouse (ball and rollers) and check for wear.
• Clean keyboard, checking for stuck keys.
• Clean the monitor screen.
• Clean printer.
• Delete temporary files (Disk cleanup)
• Defragmenting hard disk and recover lost clusters. (Clusters are the unit of disk space allocated for files and directories).

Monthly tasks that should be carried out are:

• Cleaning outside of the case.
• Take complete backup of data files.

Annually tasks that need to be carried out are:

• Checking the motherboard.
• Clean adapter card contacts with contact cleaner and reset.

Other things that need to be done are:

• Record and back up CMOS setup configuration (CMOS is a type of memory that does not lose its data on a power loss).
• Keep a written record of hardware and software configuration.

Other things that you should watch for is dust settling on your computer components or dirt. This could prevent the components form working properly. For example, if there was dust that settled on the inside of the computer, it could mean that the cooling mechanism doesn't work properly, meaning that the components overheat and get damaged.