Like a car, a computer needs regular maintenance to perform smoothly and avoid potentially serious problems. Fortunately, maintaining a computer can be much less expensive than going to the mechanic, in terms of both money and time.

Noisy Hardware

When your system gets unexpectedly noisy, it's important to take a look inside. A noisy fan can be a sign of imminent failure. A suddenly noisy hard drive can indicate an imminent breakdown of the device.

The Problem of Dust

Dust insulates computer components, which makes it more difficult for heat to dissipate and be circulated out by the case fans. With your computer off and disconnected from power, periodically clean your dusty fans and components with a can of compressed air.

Software Maintenance

Scanning your computer for viruses keeps a system healthy by helping to protect sensitive data and preventing data corruption. Several hardware vendors offer free scans done over the Internet (although you need to buy their product to actually remove the virus).

External Storage

You'll also want to buy an external hard drive, not just for important files and folders, but to store entire "images" of your internal hard drives. This way, if an internal drive fails, you can replace it and put the external image on it, without losing any data or settings.

Unnecessary Costs

By cleaning out dust, scanning for viruses, and keeping data backups, you can avoid having to spend a lot of time replacing components or restoring your data. Recovering data from a broken hard drive can be extremely expensive, and you don't want your computer to break down at a critical time.

Source:

Computer Maintenance Tips

Online Virus Scanner

Online File Scanner