What kind of preventative maintenance should I do on my computer?

There are a number of things that can be done to keep your computer running smoothly, and to avoid losing your valuable data:

1. Backup your data as often as you can afford to lose it. Regular data backups are essential to protecting your data from hardware failures. Sometimes, computer hardware will fail without notice. If you do not have a backup, you could lose everything.

2. Run a thorough scandisk on your computer monthly. This will notify you if your hard drive is starting to fail. It is much more likely that you data can be saved if you catch a failing hard drive quickly.

3. Defragment your computer monthly. This will help keep your computer running smoothly.

4. Buy a good quality surge suppressor (If you use a modem, get one with telephone line protection). There is a big difference between a power strip and a good surge suppressor. We recommend APC or Belkin surge supressors and uninterruptible power supplies. A good surge suppressor will come with a connected equipment warrantee, which insures that if your computer equipment is damaged by an electrical surge while properly connected to the surge suppressor, they will pay for it up to a specified limit.