Tag Archives: office IT

An important area of PC ownership is ensuring that you carry out regular maintenance on your PC. Without it, you could soon find your PC slowing down.

It’s a good idea to carry out a monthly maintenance on your PC, but this can sound a little intimidating. After all, there are so many pieces of software and hardware crammed into its case that it’s difficult to know where to start.

However, there are a number of relatively simple checks you can carry out which should help to maintain the smooth running of your PC.  Let’s take a look at 5 essential PC maintenance checks you need to know.

1. Update Windows

Microsoft regularly release patches and updates for Windows a couple of times a month (always on Tuesdays), so it’s crucial that you install these to ensure that your PC is running to its full potential and is secure from any new cyber security threats. In Windows 10, the Windows Update feature can be found within your Windows Settings app.

2. Spring Clean Your PC

Dust can be a major issue for your PC, if too much builds up then your PC will begin to overheat and the hardware will gradually begin to fail. Now, dust is so tiny that it’s impossible to put a guard up to protect against this, so you need to look into other dust busting methods.

You can give yourself a head start by regularly cleaning around the PC to remove any surrounding debris. However, ou need to get a little bit deeper to really ensure that dust doesn’t build up. Once a month, remove the casing from your PC and use a can of air to blow through all the crevices and remove dust without causing any damage.

3. Disk Cleanup

The hard drive on a PC can gradually build up with clutter and unnecessary files over time, but whilst they may be out of sight and mind, they have the potential to slow down your system and seriously stretch your resources.

Luckily, Windows has a built in disk cleanup to help identify and remove these files, so that your resources can be used more appropriately. In Windows 10, just search for ‘disk cleanup’ in the taskbar and you’ll be presented with options for deleting temporary files such as browsing history and unneeded system files relating to uninstalled programs.

4. Complete an Antivirus and Malware Scan

Not all pieces of security software will regularly carry out scans on your hard drive, so there’s a good chance that malware could be lurking on your system. And, as well as being dangerous for your personal data, these pieces of software can seriously compromise the performance of your system due to the memory they hog; that’s why you should schedule a regular scan in, ideally once a week.

5. Uninstall Unused Programs

We all install programs that we only ever use once or twice, but due to PC owners taking storage space for granted, many of us forget to uninstall them. And, over time, these forgotten programs gradually build up and start to command huge amounts of space and, if they’re running in the background, precious memory.

Therefore, it’s good practice to review the programs installed on your PC once a month to reclaim your hard drive for more optimized performance.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Technology is crucial for businesses, so it’s a rare firm which isn’t looking to upgrade. However, do they always fully understand the costs of technology?

It’s imperative to stay competitive and safe in modern business, so purchasing IT equipment is a regular process for almost all organizations. And whilst we’re all aware that this can be a costly experience, the costs aren’t always limited to the price sticker. That’s why it’s a good idea to understand exactly what your overall outlay – better known as total cost ownership (TCO) – will be.

Let’s take a look at what you need to consider and understand when it comes to costing the price of your technology.

What is TCO?

The TCO applies to every cost that your technology is likely to incur over the course of its lifetime. After all, the equipment involved in IT is very rarely an inanimate object (unless it’s a mouse mat) and this means that there are a variety of costs such as:

• Maintenance
• Running costs
• Admin processes
• Costs incurred by downtime when technology fails
• Software required for hardware

It’s these costs that many businesses fail to take into account when planning their budget around new technology purchases. In fact, it’s estimated that, for example, a PC’s ticket price will only make up around 20% of its TCO. And that means the other 80% will slowly mount up over its lifetime and eat into your budget when you least expect it.

You’re probably beginning to understand the importance of careful budgeting around your new technology purchases – especially when you consider just how often businesses have to upgrade their equipment – so how can you go about making this purchase less painful?

How Can You Reduce Your TCO?

The TCO for your technology purchases can have a real impact on your budgets and expenditure, so it’s vital that you factor in all the possible costs you may encounter. Otherwise, you may find yourself desperate searching for precious dollars to keep your technology operating.

And, in order to keep your TCO at a manageable level, you need to plan ahead and ensure that the following areas are tackled efficiently:

• Ensure that good security is in place as cyber-attacks on your equipment can lead to significant downtime for your workforce
• Analyze your current spending patterns to help get a clearer picture of the potential future costs
• An in-house IT team can be costly, but by outsourcing key operations such as technical support, you may discover this is a much more affordable option
• Remember that new equipment becomes essential when older, outdated equipment is holding you up in terms of efficiency and downtime from failures
• Do not allow all employees access to all areas of your network as they are likely to cause disruption when accessing, for example, software they have no training in
• Create an inventory of all your software, hardware and associated licenses to make sure you can monitor the age of all your equipment

It may seem difficult to plan ahead for the TCO of your technology purchases, but if you put in the necessary research and try to reduce in-house disruption you can come to a much more agreeable TCO.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.