Any Basic/Advanced PC maintenance maintaining tips I should know?

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Toddmichael333

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May 12, 2020
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I just got my first PC and I want to keep it in the best shape I can for as long as I can, any one know any tools/apps/settings/updates I should download or keep checking to keep it running its best?
Also I bought a computer duster and a swifer wipe for my desk. Im sure on the best way to go about cleaning it though.

I appreciate any feedback anyone can offer thanks

2080ti
Ryzen 7 3700x
16gb ram 3600 mhz
X570 motherboard
640w Gold PSU
 
Toddmichael333 said:
I just got my first PC and I want to keep it in the best shape I can for as long as I can, any one know any tools/apps/settings/updates I should download or keep checking to keep it running its best?
Also I bought a computer duster and a swifer wipe for my desk. Im sure on the best way to go about cleaning it though.

I appreciate any feedback anyone can offer thanks

2080ti
Ryzen 7 3700x
16gb ram 3600 mhz
X570 motherboard
640w Gold PSU
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clean the filters as needed, run windows updates and update your gpu drivers every month or so and you should be good. you dont really need any extra apps or anything, defender is good for antivirus and unless youre downloading pirated games they shouldnt be an issue. occasionally youll run into an odd file compression so winrar might come in handy i guess, if needed. for games youll need steam or epic or whatever game launcher is used, usually is automated.
 
Every couple months or so you could open it up and blow out the dust which accumulated inside. I use a metrovac but any similar blower should be fine.
tC3TwF1.jpg
 
pendragon1 said:
clean the filters as needed, run windows updates and update your gpu drivers every month or so and you should be good. you dont really need any extra apps or anything, defender is good for antivirus and unless youre downloading pirated games they shouldnt be an issue. occasionally youll run into an odd file compression so winrar might come in handy i guess, if needed. for games youll need steam or epic or whatever game launcher is used, usually is automated.
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Agree with everything but WinRAR. Use 7-zip for all your compression needs, instead.
 
Armenius said:
Agree with everything but WinRAR. Use 7-zip for all your compression needs, instead.
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sure thats good too, winrar is habit for me i guess and i guess im part of that meme about no one every buying a license. :)
 
Use a dedicated power strip get one that shows a 500,000 warranty on it like a GE and high joule rating. Dust the thing every 6 months depends if you have pets.


 
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Yes good power strip is really important. Probably the number one cause of equipment loss is power surges due to things like lightning storms and provider equipment failure. I actually run a surge suppressor in my breaker panel as well as good surge suppressor power strips. Here's the ones I use; https://www.tripplite.com/products/surge-protectors-premium-isobar~19-82. I have several of them around the house on all my sensitive electronics.

As far as cleaning, I have an inexpensive ultra-quiet air compressor around the house. Use it for all kinds of different stuff including dusting my computers. Check these out; https://www.californiaairtools.com.
 
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Note that the cheap power strips with surge protection you find in B&M stores typically have to be replaced after they take a single hit. It is worth it to spend the extra money on a real outlet surge protector like posted above.
 
The first Isobar I bought is probably fifteen years old. It's taken a few big hits and the protection light is still on (meaning it's not worn out).

I've actually moved a couple times so I've not always had a suppressor in my breaker panel. It's nice to have both because it can cover you for stuff outside the home offloading the power strips a bit where the power strips cover stuff inside the home. You actually can get some spikes inside the home just from high power appliances turning on and off, things like washers and dryers and microwave ovens. Those smaller interior spikes don't cause outright failure, but they hammer on the power supplies in electronics reducing their lifetime.
 
Not a hardware thing, but make sure you don't have a million programs running in the background and/or at Windows startup. Most aren't performance killers, but they can decide to download updates or do whatever they're supposed to do when you're in the middle of something important. You don't technically need anything in your Windows startup list, although by default MS has the taskbar instance of Defender opening like that.
It's also probably worth an occasional glance into this folder: C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\
It can clue you in to unknown issues...but it can also house a shitload of giant dump files, too. Some buggy programs and games can crash regularly and create a huge pile of files taking up space without you being wise to it.
 
Would Surge protect
CraigHB said:
Yes good power strip is really important. Probably the number one cause of equipment loss is power surges due to things like lightning storms and provider equipment failure. I actually run a surge suppressor in my breaker panel as well as good surge suppressor power strips. Here's the ones I use; https://www.tripplite.com/products/surge-protectors-premium-isobar~19-82. I have several of them around the house on all my sensitive electronics.

As far as cleaning, I have an inexpensive ultra-quiet air compressor around the house. Use it for all kinds of different stuff including dusting my computers. Check these out; https://www.californiaairtools.com.
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Would a surge protector powerstrip hurt my electric bill?
 
Good advice all around but honestly you will come to realize that it doesn't take much to keep your pc running and healthy.
Question is did you build it yourself, someone help you or was it from a pc manufacturer (ie dell and/or custom builder). How it was built and in turn what support you have makes a difference. Some pc companies will add bloatware that you don't need but also provide backup/restore software/partitions on your drive/disk to help if you have a problem. They will also provide troubleshooting support and you also should have a limited warranty on parts and or the whole pc if you have a hardware problem.
Otherwise owning and supporting your own pc is a learn as you go proposition. I've been building my own pc's for over 20 years, seen all kinds of hardware and software issues but I'm someone who tinkers, over-clocks and upgrades. I learned by screwing up and breaking things in various ways or just because things have a lifespan and stop working. If you keep things simple and don't mess around with it too much it should just work but only until it doesn't.
 
I think every single thing I didn't know about dealing with PCs I was able to get off a web search pretty easily. It's actually kind of amazing, but the internet is really home to all kinds of computer tech stuff.

The best policy in terms of the operating system is to do your own installs. Of course you have to do that when putting your own system together, but most people get a machine off the shelf loaded down with OEM crapware and stay with the instance it came with until they retire it. It is possible to keep a system clean for many years if you know where the junk piles up, but sometimes a clean install is the best way to refresh stuff. Windows still does suffer from registry bloat over time which can lead to problems.

Much as everyone complains about Windows it does have its plus sides. There's tons of secret settings in the registry (most can actually be accessed with the group policy editor). What's really nice with the Windows registry is you can keep tweaks in a reg file and import them on a new install. I actually have quite a collection of registry tweaks and command line tweaks. I keep them all in files I can run after a fresh install, nothing to remember or forget. Also saves me a mess of drilling through menus to set preferences.
 
Agree 7-zip is the best. Hard to find well designed programs these days, 7-zip is one.
 
I've been using WinRAR forever. A job I had like 15 years ago paid for a license :p What are some advantages of 7-Zip?
 
Domingo said:
I've been using WinRAR forever. A job I had like 15 years ago paid for a license :p What are some advantages of 7-Zip?
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There are no differences in general. One or the other might be able to compress better, or faster, or whatever, but in 99.9% of cases? Whichever you want to install.
 
Replace/upgrade all hardware every 6 months or a year maximum. That's the best maintenance you can do. :p
 
FighterAce124 said:
There are no differences in general. One or the other might be able to compress better, or faster, or whatever, but in 99.9% of cases? Whichever you want to install.
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I'm not sure about winrar's performance, but 7zip's is extremely good. I had a huge zip file and using the windows built in stuff it was taking 3+ hours to unzip. With 7zip it took about 5 minutes. It's also super fast for compressing.
 
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