It’s Clean Out Your Computer Day

Cleaning out your computer may not be at the top of your to do list, but it is incredibly important to ensure it still runs at its optimal performance. Today is the perfect day to remind yourself to do this task, as it is Clean Out Your Computer Day!

Most people will forget to clean out their computer, as they simply assume that it will be fine and there will be no major repercussions. This is a fundamental mistake however, as a computer needs to be cleaned just as much as your car for instance to ensure it runs efficiently. A computer that has not been cleaned in months, or even years, can become slow and will struggle to run most programmes.

Why will this happen? Well it is because the fans can become clogged up with dust and other everyday debris that can reduce the airflow in your PC. The fans in a computer are a crucial element as they are the very thing that keeps your computer cool, allowing it to operate for longer. By becoming clogged, they will be unable to serve their function which can lead to your computer overheating. In turn, it will run slowly, or even begin shutting down randomly in an attempt to cool down.

So in honour of 2016s Clean Out Your Computer Day, we’ve come up with some handy tips to always keep your computer running at its best, and they don’t all involve physical cleaning!

Clean The Computer Itself

This may be incredibly obvious, but it’s number one on the list of ‘important things to clean’ for your computer. Make sure to turn your computer off, you may even want to disconnect it from everything, and then open your computer up. It’s important to do this carefully, as you could accidently cause damage to your computer.

Compressed air or cotton swabs can clean small, hard to get to areas

Once it is open, you can use a brush to clean out the inside, or even a vacuum to give your computer a thorough and full clean. You could also use a can of compressed air to get into the smaller places that are harder to get. We have a large selection of air dusters on OpInfo that may interest you.

Of course in an office this could simply be the job of an IT department if your computer keeps crashing as you may not have permission to open the computer up, but it’s just as important to take care of laptops as well!

Clean The Digital Side Too

A lot of office computers often have one thing in common – an overabundance of icons on the desktop screen. This can give a cluttered impression and will also make it hard to find exactly what you need. Prune through these icons by deciding if you truly need them on your screen, you could always get rid of it and then use the start menu for any not as important.

If you can’t bring yourself to remove the icons, then you could always sort them into relevant files. Have a file specifically for Excel spreadsheets and so forth; it will reduce the amount of icons while still making them easily accessible.

For those that are allowed, a disk cleanup or defragmenting your hard drive is a simple way to speed up your computer by removing any unnecessary files. It may surprise you with just how quick your computer will run after you do this.

Have You Cleaned Your Computer Today?

Why not tell us what you’ve done to clean out your computer today? Have our tips helped? Is your computer running faster? Let us know.