There are many reasons why you should service your computer regularly. The most common of these is to bring the computer back to its original speed, allowing you to get the most out of your computer. It is important to take a preventative stance with your computer maintenance because if you don’t stay on top of things, you may find that your computer fails and you could lose all your data at the same time, very sad.

There are many companies which offer you a computer tune up and service of your computer for a cost. There are an equal amount of companies which will offer you software at a cost to bring your machine performance back to what it should be(none of which I have found to be fantastic). I don’t like spending money when I don’t have to and while servicing your PC can be time consuming, it should not put a dent in your pocket. You should only have to service your computer once a year, but it is good to set up some preventative tools in the background to make it a quick and simple process.

This article will explore the steps required to allow your computer to perform at its optimum. We will cover the following:

1. Backing up your system
2. Virus and Spy-ware removal
3. Uninstalling unused/unwanted programs
4. Clearing out unwanted files
5. Limiting programs that load during startup
6. Tidying up your Desktop and Start Menu

This article is a brief rundown of each of the sections above. Save yourself the money and do it yourself.

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One of the most frequent questions I am asked by friends and family which have little computer experience, is what type of computer they should buy. Due to the huge range available, and the multiple uses that may or may not be involved, there can be no simple answer. It is very easy to go to the shop and spend a lot of money on a computer. But this may well be more powerful than you really need and a waste of your hard earned dollars. You can buy complete computer systems for under $1000, and you can also spend well over $10,000; but what will the benefits be? In any case, this is never going to be a small investment, so it’s important to make sure you get what you want.

Back to the basics: Part one of this article will cover some initial questions you should ask yourself when planning the purchase of a new PC. Part two gives you a brief rundown of the individual components that make up a computer system itself.

This article is written for Australian consumers though I expect much of the information would be relevant for people from around the world. The main difference would be what computers are available from the different shops.

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Following on from “How to: Buy a new computer - Part I“, which covered some initial questions you should ask yourself when buying a new PC, you should have an understanding of what you would like to do with your new computer and have an idea of what type of computer you are after. If you have not yet checked out part one, please do so before reading this article.

This section of the article we will break down the components of a computer system and show you what is important for the tasks you want to achieve with your new computer. By the end of this article, you should be armed with enough information to feel comfortable going to the shop and making your purchase.

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