When you purchase a PC, it’s a good idea to educate yourself on how to take care of it. Along with other well-known mistakes – such as not maintaining your PC properly and clicking on random advertisements – avoiding these three common mistakes can ensure you have a healthy computer in the long run.
1. Installing default programs
When you install a program you’ve downloaded, you’ll often find that some other products or adware are also installed by default. These can slow down your computer and become a huge headache, so make sure you keep your eye on the installation and untick any boxes next to features and programs you don’t want.
In a similar vein, you should check out the programs on your PC that were pre-installed when you bought it. There’s a good chance that you don’t need many of these and they’re simply slowing your machine down. You can go to Control Panel and remove them via Programs and Features (for Windows 10, you’ll need to go to Settings > System > Apps & Features), or you can use a free tool such as PC Decrapifier.
2. Neglecting to restart
Frequently, when computer users have a problem with their machine, they spend a considerable amount of time researching the issue and trying to fix it, when the first step should be restarting it. Rebooting can fix a multitude of problems with computers, whether they’re simply running a little slowly, keep losing a Wi-Fi connection or are doing something else equally frustrating.
3. Not updating your software
Developers release updates for a reason, so it’s not a good idea to ignore them when they are bugging you for it. Yes, it may be a minor inconvenience but most software updates can run in the background while you’re busy working away. Updates are important because they fix bugs, introduce new features and most importantly fix any security loopholes that viruses or hackers may be able to use to their advantage. This includes the notoriously annoying Windows OS update.
We do hope identifying these common mistakes can assist you in maintaining a healthy computer. Should you ever need any assistance in following through with this information, why not give the friendly team at Rapid IT Support a call? We’re here to help with our 24 hour IT support services.
